Sinking into Darkness
by water wolf 100
Summary: Six years after the events on Digimon 02 there is a new threat after Kari and it threatens to take everything she cares about. Will she have the strength to stand against it? Full summary inside. TAKARI
1. Summary and character bios

Part 1: character profile and time

Six years after the Digidestined defeated Malomyotismon the gang all went their separate ways but new troubles will bring them together again, along with some new faces. This new foe is after Kari, how will she cope when it threatens to take everything she's ever cared about from her?

Kari Kamiya  
Age: 17  
Digimon: Gatomon  
Digivice: pink  
Crest: light  
Home: Big Bear Mountain, California

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TK Takaishi  
Age: 17  
Digimon: Patamon  
Digivice: green  
Crest: hope  
Home: Kyoto, Japan

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Susan Gregory  
Age: 17  
Digimon: Lunamon  
Digivice: purple  
Crest: faith  
Home: Big Bear Mountain, California

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Scott Martin  
Age 16  
Digimon: Liollmon  
Digivice: orange  
Crest: destiny  
Home: Big Bear Mountain, California

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Abby Martin  
Age 13  
Digimon: Bearmon  
Digivice: White  
Crest: Peace  
Home: Digital World  
(A/N: You won't see Abby until near the end of the story

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Davis Motomiya  
Age: 17  
Digimon: Veemon  
Digivice: Blue  
Crest: courage/ friendship  
Home: Odiba, Japan

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Yolei Inoue  
Age: 18  
Digimon: Hawkmon  
Digivice: red  
Crest: love/ sincerity  
Home: Tokyo , Japan

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Cody Hida  
Age: 15  
Digimon: Armadliomon  
Digivice: yellow  
Crest: reliability/ knowledge  
Home: Odiba, Japan

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Ken Ichijouji  
Age: 17  
Digimon: Wormmon  
Digivice: black  
Crest: kindness  
Home: Kyoto, Japan

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Tai Kamiya  
Age: 20  
Digimon: augamon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: courage  
Home: Tokyo, Japan

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Matt Ishida  
Age: 20  
Digimon: Gabumon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: friendship  
Home: travels world as rock star

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Sora Takenouchi  
Age: 20  
Digimon: biomon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: love  
Home: Kyoto, Japan

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Mimi Tachikawa  
Age: 19  
Digimon: Palamon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: sincerity  
Home: New York, New York

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Joe Kido  
Age: 21  
Digimon: gomomon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: realibity  
Home: CAmbridge, Massachusetts

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Izzy Izumi  
Age: 19  
Digimon: tentomon  
Digivice: original  
Crest: knowledge  
Home: Los Angeles, California


	2. Remembering

Part 2: Remembering

Kari Kamyia tilted her head back and sighed. It was a beautiful day, despite the cold. It was early February and even in California it was cold. Kari pulled her coat closer around her. Nothing could make her happy today.

Exactly six years ago today the gate to the Digital World had closed and the Digidestined had to say good-bye to their digimon, again. Even though it was five years ago, Kari remembered the moment perfectly...

"I'm sorry kids, it's time to say goodbye"

"But Gennai isn't there any way to keep the gate open?" Yolei asked. Almost two months after the battle against Malomyotismon, the Digidestined were enjoying their free time to hang out in the digital world with their Digimon.

Genni had come up to them and told them that the gate was closing and they had to say goodbye. No one was sure why the gate was closing again. Even though T.K and Kari were used to this, having to leave their Digimon behind, the new kids were taking it pretty hard. Yolei was squeezing Hawkmon until he turned purple, Cody was very quite (even more than usual), and Davis had a little tear in his eye. The new kids had come to love their Digimon so much, they couldn't stand to say goodbye. Ken was nowhere to be seen and Kari was getting worried, she knew Ken still felt bad about what he did as the Digimon Emperor and still felt like he had to fix his mistakes. No matter how many his friends told him to quit worrying about it.

Just then through the trees Ken and Wormmon came walking very slowly.

"Hey guys, I had to pick up some things." Behind him were all the other Japanese Digidestined, heads bowed and walking in a single file line. First Kari's brother Tai came, followed by Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe and last Mimi.

"Ken told us what was happening and we had to come and say goodbye" Sora said to the younger kids. She smiled, she knew how hard it was to leave the Digimon behind in the Digiworld and she saw that the new kids were taking it much harder than they had.

All the older kids knew that the new Digidestined had a tough time keeping the Digiworld safe and they had formed into one strong team. Then, over the hill came a loud commotion, all the older kid's digimon were coming to say goodbye. Kari just stood there watching everyone say goodbye, when she felt something tug on her shirt. Kari looked down to see her own Digimon, Gatomon standing there looking at her with her large blue eyes.

"Kari, do you remember that promise you made me four years ago? The last time you guys left?"

"Of course Gatomon, I said that we'll see each other again."

Gatomon nodded. "Right, now I'm going to make you a promise." She ran over to a small tree and pulled out something hanging on one of the branches. She ran back over to Kari and held out her paw. In it was a whistle; the same one Kari gave her four years before.

"Oh Gatomon, it's my whistle!" Kari exclaimed. She slowly reached out her hand as if she went to fast it would disappear. Kari took the whistle in her hand and looked at it. The once shiny metal had rusted ever slightly but the red string that she wore it on was still intact.

"Kari, I'm going to promise you that we will see each other again, and the next time we do, I'll be even stronger, O-Kay?" Kari reached down and scooped up the little cat in her arms and hugged her tight.

"Oh, Gatomon, I love you and I will never give up waiting for you." Kari put Gatomon on the ground and slipped the whistle around her neck. "I'll wear this to remember you, every time I look at it, I will think of you. Goodbye Gatomon." Kari cried. Her beautiful amber eyes began to well up with tears.

She turned around and walked over to the TV where the others were standing waiting to leave.

Tai stared at her for a moment. "Kari, isn't that your whis..."

"Yes", Kari said cutting him off, "it is. Gatomon has kept it all this time." She wiped the tears out of her eyes. It was unusual for her to show so much emotion like this. She always kept things bottled up inside her. She turned to T.K and gave him a weak smile. "Just like old times. Right?" the blond haired boy said with a fake laugh. Kari knew this was hard for him too.

"All right kids, time to go" Genni said gravely. He liked these kids and wished there was another way but this was the way things were. He gave a small wave as the Digidestined steeped through the TV to the real world for the last time...

Kari wiped away a tear that was rolling down her cheek. That was five years ago. They had no contact with the Digital World since then. She unzipped her coat and grabbed the tiny whistle that hung around her neck. She hadn't taken it off since that day. No one at her school could understand why and the only answer Kari gave them was "A friend gave it to me." Kari stood up and walked away from the bench still thinking about her digimon. Two years after the Digimon were left behind her family packed up and move halfway around the world to California. Kari hated to leave her friends, but she soon made new friends. From what her e-mails from Yolei said the gang had split up. Half of the gang was in college. Izzy was a USC studying to become a computer designer. Kari went over the college to visit him every other weekend or so.

T.K had moved with his mom to Kyoto had she hadn't heard from him in two years, Davis had also moved to Kyoto, but on the other side of it. Yolei was a freshman at Tokyo U. and Cody was a sophomore back in Odiba. Ken had moved to Odiba as well and was a senior at the high school, so now the whole gang was broken up. She wanted to call her brother at college but he was at a soccer conference in England. Izzy had tests to take and almost everyone else was in Japan and it was night time there for them.

She muttered under her breath at the time difference. As a senior in high school she only had a few more months of this state and then she could go back to Japan for college. She liked it America but it wasn't home to her. She walked around the corner and the next thing she was on the ground. She rubbed her head where she had hit it on the pavement as she looked at the person she had bumped into.

"Ow, wow Kari you have one hard head." Kari blinked for a few times before she realized who it was. She looked over her knees and saw her friend Susan lying on the ground doing the same thing she was. AS she looked at Susan she began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

Between giggles Kari laughed out "You." Susan turned her head towards the window of the store she was in front of and saw that her head had landed in a pile of snow and her hair was all plastered to her head.

"Well Kari, you don't look so good yourself." Kari looked in the window and saw her hair was a matted down and wet from the wind and snow.

"All right we're even" laughed Kari. "Come on; let's see if the place has a bathroom." They both ran inside the restaurant and found the bathroom. After lots of brushing and laughing, both of them looked presentable again. "Hey, Susan what are you doing here anyway?" Kari asked.

"Looking for you. Scott said that he saw you but you ignored him and kept on walking."

"Yeah, about that..." Kari began.

"No wait" Susan said holding her hand up. "Don't tell me it's that whole thing six years ago with leaving those friends of yours, right?"

"Yeah" Kari mumbled looking down at the sink. "It is."

"Come on, let's get some food. I'm starved." Susan was halfway out the door before Kari could reply.

Reluctantly Kari followed Susan into the heart of the restaurant. They sat down at a table and both got chicken salads. As they were waiting for their food someone bumped into Kari as he was walking. As he did he dropped a hat. "Oh I'm sorry." said the man.

"Don't worry about it" Kari said reaching down for the hat. It was a white bucket hat and it looked oddly familiar to Kari. She picked it up and handed it to the man. As she did she was greeted by a pair of bright blue eyes. "Oh my goodness", Kari cried out, dropping the hat, "TK!"


	3. Complete

Part 3: Complete

"TK, I must be crazy!" Kari screamed jumping out of her chair.

"Kari! No, if you're crazy then I must be too!" Kari couldn't believe it. Right in front of her was her best friend in the world.

TK had grown about a foot making him almost six foot tall, his hair had grown a tad bit darker, more like his moms but his eyes were the same. Bright blue eyes that stood out against his shaggy blond- brown hair. "TK, it's really you! How did you get here?" Kari didn't care anymore; she flung her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug. TK responded by lifting her off the floor and spinning her around in a circle. As he put her on the ground he laughed. That laugh was like music to Kari's ears. It was so rich and full of life.

"Um, hello, I'm still here." Susan said amused by the spectacle of her friend, calm, shy Kari going nuts over some guy.

"Right, TK this is Susan. She's one of my really great friends. Susan, this is TK one of my friends back from Japan. The one in the picture I showed you. Remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember. You look a lot taller in person."

"What can I say? It was bound to happen sometime, right? Kari, I can't get over how different you look." It was right; Kari had changed a lot in five years. Her hair, once above her shoulders now hung down to the middle of her back, she had gotten taller too. Last time she saw TK she was about five foot three, now she was five eleven; and she had a lot more muscle since she was on the track and swim team at her school.

"TK, why don't you join us?" Susan asked. Kari had told her all about TK and from the pictures she saw, he was cute. Susan wanted to get to know him a little bit more.

"Oh, sorry I can't. I promised my mom I'd get us some drinks and be right out."

"TK what are you doing here anyway?"

"My mom and I came here for one of those 'Mother and Son' getaway weekends. We're going skiing." Kari had a hard time holding back a laugh.

"TK, you don't know how to ski."

TK dropped his eyes and put on this face of hatred at the word ski. "I know; it was my mom's idea though. Well, I have to get going."

"Wait TK" Kari called out. "I want to say hi to your mom. I'll be right back Susan." As they walked towards the door, Kari turned to TK and asked "TK, have you thought about them today?"

"Yeah, I always think about them. I can't believe it's been six years. It seems only yesterday Patamon sat on my head."

"I know what you mean. I could have sworn I heard Gatomon calling my name this morning."

"Are you still wearing the whistle?"

"Yeah", lifting the old whistle out of her coat. "I haven't taken it off since that day." As they left the restaurant, the wind began to blow fast, very fast. It almost knocked Kari off her feet, but TK caught her just in time. As they looked up at the sky they saw that it had turned black.

The wind grew faster and faster. Kari felt like she was going to be blown away. Just then tow beams of light fell from the center of the black cloud, one purple and the other orange. The purple one flew right by Kari and into the restaurant. As it did people began to run outside in all directions. Kari was knocked over and as she hit the ground she heard a beeping sound. As she looked down at her belt loop a bright light emitted from the pink digivice that she still carried out of habit. The same was happening to TK. He bent down and started to help Kari up, when Susan ran out of the restaurant.

"You guys! What's going on? What is this thing and why are you glowing?" Susan held out her hand and in it was a purple digivice!

"It's a Digivice!" TK exclaimed.

"How did she get one?" Kari yelled over the roar of the wind which was becoming faster every second.

"The other question is who got the other one?" TK added. Susan was about to say something when two points of light shot out from the cloud and two more from Kari's and TK's digivices. The four points of light met up, pink to purple and orange to green. Four points of light fell from the sky. One of them headed south and the other three were headed to where Kari, TK, and Susan were standing!

"It can't be!" TK had to yell.

"It is!" Kari screamed.

"The digimon!" they yelled in unison. Kari and TK ran forward and two of the three light fell right into their arms.

The third one landed right in front of Susan.

"Gatomon!" Kari yelled hugging her Digimon tight.

"Patamon!" TK yelled at the same time.

"Kari, there's not much time. We have to digivolve now!" Gatomon yelled.

"Right" Patamon squeaked.

"Wait a minute. What's going on here?" Susan yelled!

"Hold out your digivice and tell me to Digivolve", a small voice squeaked. It was the digimon that landed in front of Susan.

"TK we have to find the other one!" Patamon said.

"Find the other what, Patamon?" Kari asked.

"The other Digidestined." the new digimon said. "We have to hurry before the trouble starts."

"Oh no, Moonmon, we're too late. She's here." Gatomon said hissing at something dark and menacing coming from the cloud.

"Gatomon, I know you want to fight, but we should get out of here and try to figure what's going on." TK said, never taking his eyes off the Digimon coming out of the cloud.

"TK we don't have time. I think it's seen us." Kari yelled. It was true. The dark figure turned to them and laughed. "No not her! How is she here?" Kari screamed.

"I-it's, Ladydevimon!" TK yelled over the digimon's evil laugh.


	4. Witch

I do not own Digimon or any characters involved with it.

Part four: Witch

"Foolish Digi-brats" the black witch digimon laughed. "If you thought I was powerful before, just wait until you see me now."

"Kari, just give me the signal!" Gatomon said; her blue eyes filled with fire.

"TK, come on let's do it!" Patamon said.

"Right, ready TK?" Kari asked holding up her pink digivice.

"Whenever you are", TK replied holding up the green digivice.

"Patamon!"

"Gatomon!"

"It's time to Digivolve!" they yelled unison.

"Gatomon digivolve to, Angewomon!" the cat Digimon yelled.

"Patamon digivolve to, Angemon, Angemon digivolve to, Mangaangemon!" the angel like Digimon called. The digimon had digivloved into their ultimate levels. Now they were as strong as Ladydevemon.

"Humph, no matter what level you are at, you will never beat me!" Ladydevemon sneered. "Let the battle begin!"

"Ladydevamon, you will never beat us!" Angewomon said flying up to face the black witch.

"That's right. You should know that the power of light will always beat the darkness" Mangaangemon said joining Angewomon in the sky.

"Susan, you have to let me digivolve" the little digimon said. Mangaangemon and Angewomon need my help."

"I can't move! What's going on here?" All Susan could do was stare at the two angles and witch floating above her. It had to be a dream. Just then Ladydevemon held up a small black box.

"This, losers is your end." The box started to glow and Ladydevamon prepared to attack. "Goodbye Digidestined! Black Wing" The swarm of black bats came fast, faster than usual.

"This attack is going to be more powerful than usual! Angewomon, you have to get out of there now!" Kari yelled over the screech of the bats, but it was too late. As fast as the attack had come it had finished. The swarm of bats had hit Angewomon straight on. She floated there for a few seconds and then glowed and de-digivloved into Gatomon and started to fall. Kari ran forward, ignoring her own safety and caught Gatomon who right as she landed into Kari's arms reverted into Salamon.

"I'm sorry Kari; she's more powerful than she used to be."

"Don't worry Salamon, you did great. Mangaangemon, you'll have to take care of this witch yourself."

"Don't worry about it." Mangaangemon flew toward Ladydevemon. "

You have threatened my friends and now you will be punished."

"Hahaha, you think you can stop me. In case you forgot I have this." Ladydevimon held up the black box.

"Yes but not for long, you black witch. Gate of Destiny." Mangaangemon called out his most powerful attack. A large gold gate began forming and its mighty doors opened.

"You think that thing will stop me? Yeah right", Ladydevimon laughed.

"I don't think he was aiming for you." TK laughed. He was right the thing that was flying into the gate of Destiny was the black box.

"No!" Ladydevimon lunged forward to grab it but she was too late. She stopped right before she crashed into Mangaangemon. "Don't think this is the last of it brats. I'll be back and stronger than ever." Ladydevimon flew up and disappeared right into the black cloud she had come into.

"Well that was weird." Kari said walking up to TK who was holding a tired Tokamon. She turned her head to Susan who was standing there with her mouth open. "Now what to do with this little fella" Kari said crouching down in front of the new digimon.


	5. Izzy

I do not own Digimon

Part five: Izzy

"So just who are you?" Kari inquired.

"My name is Moonmon, I'm an in-training level digimon and Susan is my human partner. I've been waiting a long time to meet you Susan." Moonmon looked up at Susan and her eyes sparkled. The little digimon was no more than three feet high. She looked like a purple raindrop with an antenna sticking out of the top of her head. "I'm sorry I was unable to help you earlier."

"Don't worry about it." Tokamon squeaked. "It was nice to be able to Digivolve again."

"CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Susan screamed.

"I would like to know what's going on too." TK said.

"And I know the person we can go to." Kari said turning around. "Come on, follow me." Just as she was about to run off a voice called out her name.

"Kari, Susan. Thank goodness I found you!" Susan and Kari looked across the street to find Scott standing there waving at them. At his feet was what looked like the head of a cat with a long tail and a frill around its entire head. "You guys. I came as fast as I could, everyone here O-Kay?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say we're fine." Susan said sighing. "If you call watching a battle between two angles and a witch; along with monsters falling out of sky O-Kay, then I'm great."

"Frimon, I glad to see you found your human partner quickly." Salamon said to the little cat.

"Yep, this is Scott."

"Can anyone fill me in? This orange light shot into my hands and the next thing I knew I was holding this." Scott held out his hand and he was holding an orange Digivice. "Then this little dude came up to me and said we were partners and something about the Digital World. Anyone know what's going on here?"

"Don't worry Scott, I understand perfectly." Kari said with a smile. "In fact we were just on our way to get some help. You'll all understand soon. Just don't ask any questions."

"Can I ask one quick one? Who's that guy?"

"Oh sorry, my name's TK. I'm a friend of Kari's from Japan. Wait a minute, how do you know Japanese?"

"Kari taught me and Susan when she first moved here", Scott said flatly. He couldn't take his eyes off TK. There was something about him that he didn't trust; he didn't like the idea of Kari being near him.

"Kari!"

"TK", two ladies called were running toward the kids.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Kari asked. "I thought you had work?"

"I know but I came here as soon as I heard there were monsters in this area. Are the monsters the digimon?"

"Yeah mom, they are."

"Kari, I thought you said this digimon nonsense was all over with?"

"I know what I said mom, but I was wrong", Kari snapped. She was in a bad enough mood already and she didn't need her mom giving her a hard time about it.

"Kari, don't use that tone with me young lady."

"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. I'll use whatever tone I want." Kari yelled. She turned around and ran off in the other direction.

"Kari, wait. I'm sorry mom but this is going to have to wait. This may be a matter of saving the world. But you don't have to worry, we'll all be fine. Scott, Susan let's go." TK said as he turned to chase after Kari.

"But Kari wait", Mrs. Kamyia yelled back to her daughter, but it was too late. Kari had disappeared around the corner and her friends were trailing behind.

TK followed Kari around the corner. Susan and Scott watched quietly as TK tried to get Kari to talk. The Digimon looked at each other confused. Moonmon and Frimon were staring at TK and Kari, it was the first time they had come in contact with humans and they didn't know what was going on.

"I don't think I'll ever understand humans." Frimon said staring at a worried TK and mad Kari.

"Don't worry, you'll learn quickly. Humans are strange creatures." Salamon said running up to Kari.

"Kari, will you please stop, we have to go talk to Izzy about this." TK called after Kari who was only walking faster. "Please, you're being stupid." Kari stopped all of the sudden and turned toward TK. Her eyes were filled with a fire of anger. As he looked into TK's eyes her look softened. His eyes were piercing right into his heart.

"Sorry TK, I was mad. This is all so confusing."

"I know Kari, I don't understand it either." Kari smiled at TK and bent down to pick Salamon.

"Wow Scott, looks you have some competition." Susan said smugly. "Good luck."

"Ha-ha very funny Susan." Scott said steaming. His usually pale face had turned bright red. It matched perfectly with his bright red hair.

"Come on you guys let's go!" Kari yelled. She was already to the corner. Scott, with Frimon in his arms started running. Susan stopped to pick up Moonmon and ran after them.

"There it is. The train station, hurry let's go." Scott yelled.

"Wait, what are we going to do about tickets? I don't have any money." TK yelled ahead to Scott.

"Don't worry about it. My dad works here. He can get us on. I'll pay him back when we get home." Susan said. "But we have to hurry before the train leaves."

"Wait, where are we going anyway?" Salamon asked.

"USC, it's where Izzy goes to school", Kari said picking up the pace.

"Hi Daddy" Susan called out to a tall man with shaggy brown hair.

"Hi there Pumpkin, do you need something? Well, Kari good to see you."

"Thank you Mr. Gregory. We have to get to USC on the fastest train possible."

"Don't worry dad, I'll pay you back when I get home."

"Why do you kids need to go to USC?"

"It's an important meeting with a friend of ours sir." TK said.

"How important is this meeting?" Mr. Gregory asked

"Mr. Gregory, let's just say it could be a matter of life or death." Scott said quickly.

"Well, all right. I'll get you kids in." Susan's dad walked over to a counter to get the tickets.

"All right, we're on. Nice going Scott." Susan said giving Scott a high five.

"Susan, what's a train?" Moonmon asked.

"It's a very loud machine, Moonmon. It looks like a Locomon without the eyes." Tokamon said.

"Let's hurry before the train leaves." Kari called out. The kids ran into the station and found the train.

**I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. I appriciate all reviews!**


	6. Solving

Part six: Solving

"Come on you guys, Izzy's room is over there." Kari yelled out to her friends who were lagging behind.

"It should be illegal for a campus to be this big" Scott complained. He was tired and sick of being out in the cold all day. Even though LA was farther south than where they lived, it was still very cold out.

"Kari is that the building over there?" Susan asked pointing to a large stone building.

"Yeah that's the one, let's hurry." Kari ran over to the building and was about to go inside when the door opened suddenly and smacked Kari in the face causing her to drop Salamon who out of surprise bit the kid who opened the door.

"Ow. What in the world! Hey kid watch where you're going." The young man looked down to see what hit him and smiled. "Salamon? Wow, long time no see. Wait, Kari! Oh man I'm sorry Kari." The young man bent down to help Kari up.

"Don't worry about it Izzy. How are you?" TK and the others had run up to see if Kari was OK and when TK saw Izzy his face lit up.

"Wow, Izzy aren't you a sight to see."

"TK, what are you doing..? Wait, Tokamon? Salamon? What's going on here?"

"I hope you have enough room for all of us in your room." Kari laughed as Susan and Scott ran up the steps of the dorm. Izzy just stared at each of them with his mouth hanging open like a codfish. "Well Izzy, don't you want to go what's going on here or not?" TK asked.

Uhh, right. Follow me everyone." Izzy turned right around and walked slowly into the building. Once they were all seated in Izzy's small room, which seemed even smaller with all of Izzy's book and computer in it. "Ok, I want an explanation and I want it now." Izzy looked very upset about all of this.

"Well Izzy it goes like this..." Kari started explaining all that had happened since the incident in the restaurant. "And now my friends Scott and Susan have Digivices and digimon. They're Digidestined and that means the gate is open again. You guys show Izzy your digivices and digimon."

As Susan and Scott held out their digivices, Susan asked "Wait a minute, Izzy do you have one of these Digi- things and your own monster?"

"Hey, we're not monsters, we're Digimon." Tokamon snapped.

"Right, I'm sorry, Digimon."

Izzy smiled, "As a matter of fact I do. See?" In his hand was a small square, it looked completely different than the one Susan was holding. "I also have a Digimon, his name is Tentomon. He lives in the Digiworld."

"But, that one is different than ours." Scott pointed out.

"That's a story in itself; we would have to explain from the beginning." TK said. "It's a long story."

"Yes, and unfortunately we don't have that kind of time. I've been monitoring the patterns of the Digiworld on my computer for quite some time now and things are changing, a lot."

"We could have told you that." Salamon said. "From what other Digimon have noticed, the barrier that separates our worlds has been wearing down. Digimon have been disappearing right and left. It's awful."

"Is that how you got into our world?" Scott asked.

"Well, kinda." Frimon said looking down as if he didn't want to remember. "There have been all kinds of problems going on. One day Gennai came up to me and said it was time I had to meet the one I was waiting for. I went with him and we found Moonmon along with Gatomon and Patamon."

"As Gennai explained what we were supposed to do" Moonmon started, "Ladydevimon came up to us ready for battle. Genni told us to make a run for it. He sent with us the new digivices and gave us the location of our new partners. As we were running Ladydevimon almost caught up to us, but luckily one of the warps opened up and we got to your world."

"And so Ladydevimon must have followed you into our world." Kari realized. "I don't believe it, just as we save the Digital world someone has to come up and cause trouble." Kari was getting mad and her whole body was shaking.

"Kari, you need to calm down." Salamon pleaded.

"Prodigious" Izzy yelled all of the sudden.

"What's up Izzy?" TK said looking up at Izzy who was sitting at his computer.

"I just checked the gate and its open! Even more there's a message here from Genni."

"Wow, well what are we doing sitting here? Let's go." Kari said standing up.

"Now, wait a minute. We should think this through" Izzy said quickly. "I think it would be best if we contacted the others first."

"What Others" Susan asked.

"Yeah, from Japan alone there are twelve of us. We're a team. But right now we're all spread out all over the world."

"So let's call 'im up", Scott said.

"All right, the team is going to get together again." Kari said punching her fist into the air. She hadn't seen some of her friends in several years.

"This is going to be great." Izzy said in agreement.


	7. Return

Part seven: Return

"First we need to find out where everyone is." Izzy started. "Once we do we can tell them to go to the Digiworld and the digimon can be waiting and then we can all meet at one place."

"But what's one place where everyone knows the location of and easy to get to?" TK asked.

"I have an idea", Salamon said. "We could all meet at the top of Infinity Mountain. Everyone knows where that is and it's quick to find."

"Great idea Salamon", Kari said. "The only people who don't know are Scott and Susan and they're with us."

"We don't even know what you're talking about." Susan said. This was one of the most confusing conversations she had ever heard.

"Don't worry, leave everything to us." Tokamon said.

"The only problem is trying to find all of the Digimon." Izzy said frowning. Finding ten Digimon was going to be a lot of work. Plus there was calling everyone and trying to explain what was going on.

"Izzy, you find the Digimon and leave calling the others to us." Kari said, "Come on TK, we have phone calls to make."

"Do you know where everyone is?" Susan asked. "For what you said your friends are pretty spread out right now."

"No, but that's never stopped us before." TK said.

"You'll soon learn that Digidestined are some of the most stubborn people on the planet." Salamon said.

"Is there any way we can help?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, we'll give you guys a list and write down what you have to say to each person." Kari told them. After a lot of phone calls and much confusion and excitement they had called all of the Digidestined together.

"I found all of them", Izzy said.

"Well, then why are we standing here?" Tokamon asked. Salamon nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go! We're going to the Digiworld." TK exclaimed. Izzy walked over to his computer and typed a few keys and brought up a strange screen.

"All right guys, which one of you wants to do the honors?"

"What?" Susan asked.

"Only the kids with Digivices like the one you have can open the gate," TK explained, holding out his Digivice.

"I'll do it." Kari said. She walked up to the computer, held up her digivice and said "Digiport open!" There was a bright light and Kari and Salamon disappeared into the computer.

"What happened?" Scott asked "Where did she go?"

"To the Digital World, it's my turn now." TK said. He repeated the same motion Kari did and disappeared. Susan reluctantly walked up to the computer and held out her Digivice, the bright light came back and she was sucked into the computer. As Scott followed Izzy heard the door lock click. His roommate was back from his class. He had to hurry. Izzy quickly held up his Digivice and disappeared just as his roommate walked in.


	8. Digivolving

Part eight: Digivolving

Kari opened her eyes to a bright light. Her head was spinning. She sat up halfway to see her friends doing the same thing.

"That, was the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life." Susan whined looking around.

"You'll get used to it" TK told her brushing off his pants. "After a while, you come to enjoy being downloaded."

"Hey, who are you?" Susan asked. Standing next to her was a rabbit like digimon with four ears.

"Susan, I used to be Moonmon. My name is Lunamon, when I returned to the Digitalworld I was able to digivolve."

"The same goes for me. I used to be Frimon but you may call me Liollmon now," Liollmon said. At Scott's feet was a large lion cub like Digimon. Hanging around his neck was a metal collar with a glowing turquoise gem.

"Come on, everyone. We have to go. I told the others to meet us at the peak of the mountain." Izzy said.

"Don't you think it would be better if I came along?" a squeaky voice asked. Scott whipped around to see a red and green beetle standing behind him.

"What the heck are you?" Scott screamed jumping back.

"Excuse me. I'm not a what, but a who. My name is..."

"Tentomon!" Izzy yelled running over to see his long lost partner. "Wow, am I glad to see you."

"Please Izzy, don't get so emotional. I just had my shell waxed and I don't want to start crying."

"Hey, you guys. What are we standing here for? Don't we have to get going?" the newly digivloved Gatomon asked.

"Um, right", Izzy said standing up quickly. "Let's get going everyone. We have a lot of ground to cover and trust me I don't think any of us want to be stuck in the Digiworld at night."

"Then let's get going." TK said. "Patamon? Here we go, Digi Armor Energize."

"Patamon, armor digivolve to, Pegusasmon: Flying Hope."

"Kari, it's our turn."

"Let's do it, Digi Armor Energize."

"Gatomon armor digivolve to, Nefertimon: the Angel of Light."

Scott and Susan stared at the two very large digimon standing in front of them.

"Wait a minute; I thought Gatomon and Patamon digivloved into those angel digimon." Susan said.

"They do. When a digimon armor digivolves it becomes a whole new kind of digimon. It's a rare and powerful form of Digivolving." TK explained.

"Hey, Izzy, we aren't going to let Gatomon and Patamon have all the fun, are we? Tentomon asked.

"No way pal, it's our turn." Izzy held up his digivice.

"Tentomon, Digivolve to. Kaubterimon" As the large insect like digimon appeared Susan and Scott stared at him like he was something out of horror film.

"Come on everyone, we need to get a move on or else we'll be late." Izzy said jumping on Kaubterimon's back. Scott, you can ride with me if you want." Scott nodded and looked at Liollmon and then at Izzy on Kaubterimon. He turned his head to see Kari sitting on Nefertimon with Susan behind her, Lunamon safely in her lap. TK was already on Pegusasmnon's back and smiled at him.

"Is everyone ready?" Kari asked. The whole group nodded. "Then let's get going.


	9. Reunion

Part nine: Reunion

"Joe, it's you!" Kari exclaimed. Kari hadn't see Joe since he left for college to become a doctor. Now as she looked at him she noticed that he wasn't the same awkward teenager that she remembered from her childhood. He looked a confident young adult.

"Well, hey there Kari. Nice of you to drop in", Kari rolled her eyes at his bad joke.

"Joe, that's my line." Ikukaumon said. "I'm the funny one, remember? You're the one who freaks out at every moving thing then gets an asthma attack."

"Sorry pal, Kari, who's your friend?" Susan was sitting there looking around at the ocean trying to figure out how they landed on this big white marshmallow.

"Oh, Joe, meet Susan and Lunamon. Susan's one of the two new Digidestined." Then Pegusasmon, followed by Kaubterimon flew down next to Ikukaumon.

"Kari Susan, are you two ok?" Then he noticed Joe standing there. "Hey Joe what's up? I haven't seen you for a while."

"I'm good TK. How have you been?"

"Hey people, I don't think this is the time for catching up on old times." Scott said "Don't we have somewhere to be soon?"

"Calm down Scott, after all we haven't seen each other for several years. We just need a moment to say hi to all of our friends before we try to figure out what we need to do." Kari said. "Oh right. Joe, this is Scott and Liollmon, the other new Digidestined and his Digimon."

"Um, Kari, I don't mean to interrupt but is it common for large scary digimon to swim straight for you in this place?" Susan asked

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Kari turned her head and saw a digimon swimming towards them. "What is that thing?" Kari was looking at a large snake-like Digimon. He was a very large red and black snake-dragon digimon.

"Joe, that's WaruSeadramon." Ikukaumon said. "Trust me you don't want to tangle with this snake. He'll just hit you with his Poison Wave attack and believe me you'll be waking up sore the next morning."

"Well whatever he's planning let's just get out of his way", Joe said.

"Don't worry TK, I'll handle him." Pegusasmon said. TK jumped off Pegusasmon and he flew into battle.

"Look what he's holding, one of those black boxes Ladydevimon had", Gatomon pointed out. She was right, clutched in his claw was an identical black box.

"Your attempts to defeat me are futile. I will destroy you in your tracks," WaruSeadramon roared. He leapt out of the water with intense power and charged at Pegusasmon at full speed. "Poison Wave!" WaruSeadramon leapt at Pegusasmon with a large purple and black wave following him. At the last second Pegusasmon was able to dodge the attack.

"Get him Pegusasmon!" Gatomon called out, "Knock his block off!"

"I've grown weary of you," WaruSeadramon sighed. He jumped out of the water a second time and smashed his massive tail into Pegusasmnon's side. With a splash, Pegusasmon landed into the water.

"Pegusasmon, hold on pal! I'm coming!" TK yelled. He dove into the water and vanished beneath the surface.

"No, TK!" Kari yelled. She looked all over the surface of the water but couldn't find a trace of TK anywhere.

"Foolish human, I'll finish him now and put him out of his misery." WaruSeadramon jeered. He swam under the water leaving everyone else alone.

"What do we do now?" Susan asked, "We have to go help TK." Joe looked at Ikukaumon and nodded. Pulling out his Digivice, a bright light began to shine.

"Ikukaumon digivolve to… Zudomon!" Zudomon called out. In Ikukaumon's place was a giant walrus like Digimon with a turtle shell. "Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon yelled. He smashed his giant hammer onto the surface of the water and a shock went through the waves. It was so powerful enough to knock WaruSeadramon out of the water.

"Gatomon, do you think you can teach this guy a lesson?" Kari asked. Gatomon nodded and jumped into the air. "It's time to Digivolve!" Kari yelled.

"Gatomon Digivolve to… Angewomon", Angewomon called, "WaruSeadramon, you will pay for what you have done, Heaven's Charm." A cross shaped beam of pink light shot through the sky and hit WaruSeadramon square in the chest.

"All right that will teach the overgrown sea slug to mess with the Digidestined", Joe called out in triumph.

"Joe, I don't think he's that afraid of us yet." Zudomon said. A little ways off, WaruSeadramon was rising out of the water. The Digidestined could hear a faint sound coming from him, it sounded like laughter.

"If you fools think that you have won this battle, you are sadly mistaken. Your battle has barely begun, there will be others, some much stronger than me. Your defeat over me has been meaningless." WaruSeadramon laughed as he began to fade away. Soon, there was nothing left and the Digidestined were left floating there in wonder at what they had just been told.

"You guys, TK never came to the surface," Scott said suddenly. The wonder soon turned to fear as everyone began to scan the water for any sign of TK or Pegusasmon. Then, not far from where they were sitting, a large splash broke the surface of the ocean and a large white Digimon came out.

"Submarimon, it's you." Kari called out. She then noticed who was sitting on top of his back, "TK! Patamon, are you guys all right?"

"We were just swimming through the neighborhood and I found a couple of hitchhikers," a person from inside of Submarimon said.

"Cody, your timing couldn't have been better," Izzy said. He climbed off of Kaubterimon's back and landed on Zudomon. He went over to TK and helped him to his feet. Kari ran over and helped balance TK until he was safely on Zudomon's back. Izzy then went and picked up Patamon and handed him to TK.

"Thanks guys. And Cody, Submarimon, I owe both of you a huge thanks. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come along when you did," TK said quietly, "What happened to WaruSeadramon?"

Kari answered with a huge smile, "Angewomon took care of him."

"That's right. I finished off that overgrown sea slug", Angewomon said proudly. She dedigivloved into Gatomon and sat down in Kari's lap.

"Well, I think we've stalled enough. We better get to the island before TK catches hyperthermia," Joe said from Zudomon's head, "full speed ahead, Zudomon." Joe said.

"Aye Aye Captain Joe", Zudomon said. Izzy returned to Kaubterimon's back and took off into the air. That left Susan, Lunamon, Joe, Kari, Gatomon, TK and Patamon on Zudomon's back. Cody and Submarimon swam beside Zudomon.


	10. Campfire

Part 10: Campfire

"TK, you must be freezing", Kari said. She was looking at TK and Patamon, who were both shivering harshly.

"Hold on, I think I might have an emergency blanket in my bag here somewhere," Joe said. He began digging though his oversized duffle bag. Muttering to himself about how disorganized it was.

"Ever reliable Joe, what would we do without him?" Gatomon asked.

"Joe, do you need some help?" Kari asked. Joe looked up from his bag and nodded. Kari stood up and joined Joe in front of the duffle bag. Even with both of them looking, it took several minutes to find the emergency blanket. "Joe, did you pack the entire hospital in there?" Kari asked with a small laugh. She walked over to TK and draped the blanket over his shoulders.

"Thanks Kari," TK said through chattering teeth. He wrapped Patamon inside the blanket and kept shivering.

"Look! I see the island!" Lunamon called out suddenly. In the distance, a towering mountain broke through the surface of the water.

"That has to be the biggest mountain I have ever seen," Susan said in awe.

"It's the biggest mountain in the digital world," Zudomon replied.

"Yeah, and we're going to its peak. It's quite a climb but it shouldn't take too long," TK said.

"Hey, do you guys see that mountain?" Scott yelled down from Kaubterimon's back. "It's huge!"

"Yeah, we see it! And we have to climb it!" Susan called back up.

"Or we could just fly", Gatomon suggested.

"Let's just get to the shore first," said Submarimon. Cody nodded in agreement.

After another ten minutes of swimming, Zudomon reached File Island. Everyone climbed down from his back and she didigivolved into his rookie form. "Good going, Gomomon. We made that trip in less than three hours.

"Aw shucks, it was nothing." Gomomon said, blushing.

"Now all we have to do is find the others. I'm sure some of them are already at the peak of the mountain," Kari said looking up towards the top of the mountain.

"Well, then what are we doing standing here?" Cody asked. Submarimon had didigivolved back into Armadillomon and was lying on the beach, panting heavily.

"Do we really have to walk all the way up there?" he asked.

"Of course not, you can all fly up with me," a voice from above them said. Everyone looked up to see a girl riding on the back of a giant red bird.

"Sora, Birdramon! How are you?" Kari called out in greeting. Birdramon landed on the sand and Sora climbed off her Digimon's foot.

"Kari, TK, Cody, Joe! I missed you guys!" Sora yelled as she ran over to her friends. She gave them all a big hug. "TK, why are you all wet?" she asked.

"It's a long story; on our way here we were attacked by a- a-choo!" TK sneezed in the middle of his sentence.

"Oh man, we better get you in front of a fire; you'll get sick if you stay in those wet clothes," Sora said.

"By the way, Sora, meet Susan and Scott, the new Digidestined," Kari pointed out.

"Hey guys, what's up? I'm Sora, long time Digidestined and friend to everyone you're about to meet. And this is Birdramon," Sora said, pointing behind her.

"Hello there, what do the two of you think of the Digitalworld so far?" Birdramon asked.

"Well, we've only known about it for a few hours, but so far we've been attacked by two giant Digimon that wanted to destroy us," Susan said. Sora gave them a puzzled look and then started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Susan asked.

"I'm sorry; it's just been so long since I was surprised about being attacked by a Digimon. But I guess you're right, that would be a little scary. Consider yourselves lucky that you will be surrounded by people who know the Digiworld really well. The first time I was here, there was no one to help us beside the Digimon."

That's right; you guys were all alone back then. I was glad that you all knew what you were doing by the time I joined the group," Kari added in.

"All right, I know this trip down memory lane is fun but we really do have to get going. The others are waiting for us," Joe said impatiently.

"Right, Birdramon, you better digivolve", Sora said holding up her digivice. There was a flash of light and when it faded an even larger bird stood in place of Birdramon. "Garudamon, long time no see," Sora said when her Digimon finished Digivolving. Scott and Susan stood in awe at the bird the size of a small building that was standing in front of them.

"Well, are you all ready to go?" Garudamon asked. Garudamon bent down and allowed everyone to climb up into her hands. With intense power, Garudamon took off into the sky and soon caught up with Kaubterimon.

"Sora, how are things back in Japan?" Izzy called out.

"Pretty good, how have you been in America?" Sora asked. Sora and Izzy continued their conversation back and forth as Scott and Susan stared out at the ocean.

"It's amazing isn't it?" TK asked. He smiled as he looked down at Patamon, who had fallen asleep in his arms. "Kari, can you believe that we're really here? It just seems like yesterday that we defeated Malomyotismon and now we're back against another new foe."

"I can't believe it either. What concerns me is the fact that Mr. Oikawa gave his energy to protect the Digital World, so why is there trouble now. Considering how old the Digital World is, five years is a really short time," Kari whispered. She didn't want Susan and Scott to overhear what they were talking about.

"I guess the only thing we can do is talk to the others about it when we get to the top of the mountain," TK said with a sigh. Kari nodded and looked out across the ocean. She wondered why the forces of darkness had to keep attacking the Digital World. What really frightened her was what WaruSeadramon had said to them. She still hadn't told TK about it yet and she knew everyone else would want to hear the story as well.

"We've made it to the top!" Sora cried out abruptly. TK and Kari turned their attention to the sudden appearance of the mountain peak above the cloud bank. Sitting on the ground, they could see several of the other Digidestined. "Hey guys, long time no see! How have you been?" Sora asked. Garudamon landed and everyone climbed out of her massive hands.

"Tai!" Kari yelled out when she saw her brother sitting there with Augamon. Tai stood up and ran over to meet her. Wrapping his arms around her in a giant hug, he lifted her right off her feet.

"Kari, it's so great to see you", Tai said. He set her down and went over to greet everyone else. Sitting with Tai were Ken and Mimi.

"Hey you guys, it's so great to see you." Kari said as she walked over to her friends. She greeted each of them with a hug and then turned back to face Susan and Scott. "You'll meet everyone soon. We're still missing a lot of our group," Kari told them.

"How many are left?" Scott asked. He was losing track of how many others people were standing on this mountain peak.

"We're still missing Davis, Yolei, and Matt," TK said looking around.

"I'm mot missing, I'm right here," someone said from right over the edge of the mountain. Just then a giant white and blue wolf sprung up from the cliff below them. On his back was a tall, skinny blond hair man. "Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Hey Matt, Garurumon, you aren't late. Davis and Yolei still aren't here." Tai said.

"And knowing those two, they'll be really late", Agumon said.

"Well then, we might as well start without them", Matt said as he got off of Garurumon's back. "TK, you're all wet. What happened?" Matt asked. TK sighed and shook his head.

"We had a little incident on our way here. We'll tell you guys about it when everyone is here," TK said.

"Until then, you better sit in front of a nice warm fire so you can dry off," Mimi suggested. Fortunately, there was an abundance of dry wood lying around so it was easy to make a fire. With a quick blast from Agumon's Pepper Breath, a nice warm fire was soon blazing. Everyone was grateful for it because the air above the clouds was chilly. When everyone was settled around the fire, they began talking about what they had been doing since they had all been together. The only one who didn't talk was Cody, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"What's wrong, Cody?" Armadillomon asked. Cody looked at his friend and gave a small smile.

"I just thought of something that could cause a problem for some of us. It's getting late and those of us who aren't in college yet have to think of something to tell are parents so they don't worry," Cody said.

"Cody's right, we need something to tell out parents in case we're here longer than we thought", Ken muttered.

"If our parents' don't understand this is something that we sometimes have to do then I don't even think we should tell them anything. They won't understand anyway," Kari said. She stood up and walked away from the fire.

"Kari? What's wrong with her?" Tai asked.

"Before we left, she got into a fight with your mom," TK explained, "She was really upset. I've never seen her that mad before."

"Kari, wait, come back", Gatomon called out. She ran over to where Kari was walking and tried to stop her from walking away.

"I've never known Kari to hold a grudge," Mimi said with a look of surprise on her face.

"Me either, she's one of the most forgiving humans I know", Palamon agreed.

"I really don't understand humans", Liollmon said, "They have such a wide arrange of emotions that change in a second."

"You'll get used to it my friend", Gabumon told him. "Human's aren't always as controlled as us Digimon.

"I'll go see if she's OK," TK said. He got up from the fire and walked in the direction Kari had gone. Patamon followed closely behind and they soon vanished from view.

"Seriously, what are we going to tell our parents? My mom still thinks that they whole battle against Malomyotismon was nothing but a bad dream. If I break my curfew, I'll be grounded until I'm 30", Cody said.

"Cody, why don't you e-mail your mom and tell her you're spending the night at my house? It's the weekend so I'm sure she'll say yes. That will at least buy us until tomorrow night, we can think of something else then", Ken suggested.

"You know, that's a great idea. I'll use the same one on my parents. I guess there is an advantage to having divorced parent", Scott said happily. He pulled out his cell phone and began typing frantically on the keypad. Cody, Susan and Ken did the same thing.

"Where in the world are Yolei and Davis?" Tai yelled to the sky.

"Dude, did you ever think of e-mailing them and asking them where they are?" Matt asked.

"No, but that's a great idea. What would I do without you buddy?" Tai asked.

"Get locked into an asylum because you yell random things into the sky", Matt said with as much control as possible. No one spoke for a moment and then the entire group burst into laughter.

"I missed you guys", Sora said when she was able to regain her breath.

"Don't you all think Kari and TK have been gone for a while?" Susan asked, "I wonder what's taking them so long."


	11. Protection

**I do not own Digimon.**

Part 11: Protection

"Kari, please wait. We need to get back to the others", TK pleaded for the tenth time. They had been walking for twenty minutes and were pretty far down the mountain in the little time they had been walking. "Kari, come on. If something is bugging you, you can tell me. Don't keep things inside", TK said to her. Kari stopped and turned to face TK. TK noticed right away that something was wrong with her. Kari's eyes were red and he could see in the dim light that her cheeks were wet. She had been crying, Kari never cried.

"TK, I, I'm just so worried about what has been happening. These Digimon that keep attacking us, what do they want? You didn't hear what WaruSeadramon said- he told us that there were more of them and that they would keep coming. And what do those black boxes do? This is just so hard to deal with, I don't know what to do anymore", Kari sobbed. She sunk down to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

"Kari, you don't have to worry. We'll figure this out and we'll do it as a team like we always have. Think of all the things that we have done up to now, all the Digimon we helped. We can do this, I know we can", TK reassured. He knelt down next to Kari and waited for her to stop crying. Gatomon and Patamon waited patiently as well. They were both well aware that they could solve problems like this on their own.

"TK, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have broken down like that. It's not like me", Kari apologized. TK shook his head in disagreement.

"No Kari, I'm glad you said what you did. When you keep everything inside, it worries me. I'm always afraid that you'll get pulled back into the darkness. Kari, if you ever need to talk about how you feel, you can come to me. I'll always be there to listen. Promise?"

"I promise. Thank you TK, I don't know what I would do without you", Kari gave TK a small smile and then began to rub her shoulders with her arms. There was a drop in the temperature. All she had on was a t-shirt and her trademark pink gloves. "Is it me, or did it just get colder all of the sudden?" She rubbed her hands together and shivered.

"Here, hold on", TK took off his thick winter coat and handed it to Kari. "I have a sweater on, I won't be cold", he reassured.

"Thanks a lot TK", Kari said gratefully as she slipped on TK warm green coat. Even though it had been dripping wet from being in the ocean, Kari found it quite dry and very warm.

"Something's not right. It shouldn't get so cold so quickly", Gatomon said coming over to where TK and Kari were.

"She's right, plus I sense something. Another Digimon, nearby too", Patamon added. He flew over and landed on TK's head.

"How perceptive, you don't miss a thing do you?" a sinister voice asked from behind a corner of the mountain. "Greetings children, I hope that you have found your stay in the Digital World pleasant so far."

"Icedevimon, what are you doing here?" Patamon asked.

"Why, I am merely here to see how the conditions of the two most powerful of the Digidestined are. Do you have a problem with that?" Icedevimon asked with a sly grin.

"As a matter of a fact-"Gatomon hissed.

"We do", Patamon finished. He flew off of TK's head and stood next to Gatomon on the ground.

"What do you want with us?" Kari asked. After all that happened today, Kari knew that he wanted to fight. Icedevimon began to laugh; it was as cold as his voice.

"If you knew, you wouldn't be in this world human", Icedevimon said pointing a long gnarled at Kari. Kari's eyes filled with fear and Gatomon hissed at Icedevimon.

"Don't even talk to her, you walking Popsicle", she growled.

"I'm not sure what's going here, but I'm putting an end to it. Patamon, you know what to do", TK said holding up his Digivice.

"Gatomon, you too", Kari said as she pulled out her Digivice from her pocket. Icedevimon merely laughed as the two Digimon were Digivolving.

"I'm not sure if the two of you understand what I am capable of", Icedevimon said with a laugh. He opened his left hand and revealed another one of the black boxes. "Do you see this? This was designed by my master to drain power from your Digimon. If I activate it and simply touch your Digimon, it will take effect. Slowly, the power will drain from your Digimon until they are incapable of fighting. It is quite the handy little tool." He glanced down at Gatomon and smirked; he knew something and wasn't telling them.

"Kari, we have to get out of here. We can't fight him on a cliff like this. We might fall", TK said as he pulled Kari away from the battle.

"We can't leave the Digimon here. Who knows what will happen? We have to stay", Kari pleaded.

"You're very brave, little human. You seem very confident that everything will turn out all right. Now, what will you think if I do this? Avalanche Claw!" Icedevimon flapped his wings and hundreds of razor sharp icicles flew from them and headed straight for Kari.

"Kari, move!" TK yelled. The only way for Kari to escape was to jump off the side of the cliff where she was standing. "Kari!" TK yelled at the top of his lungs when he saw Kari dive off the cliff.

"No, Kari!" Gatomon yelled as she saw her friend vanish over the cliff. She ran over and looked down to see if Kari was all right, but she was nowhere in sight. "You'll pay for that, Lightning Paw!" Gatomon sprang at Icedevimon and attempted to slash him in the face with her claws. Icedevimon foresaw the attack and was able to block Gatomon's attack before she had a chance to hit him.

"TK, you have to let me in there. I can Digivolve and beat this creep", Patamon said. TK pulled out his Digivice and Patamon was about to Digivolve when there was a giant explosion. Icedevimon screamed and when the smoke cleared, TK and Patamon could see that Icedevimon had been hit by a powerful attack.

"What was that?" TK asked, wondering where the attack had come from.

"You look like you could use some help. Good thing we got here when we did", a girl's voice called out. "Go get him Aquilamon", she called out.

"You got it, Yolei. Blast Rings!" Aquilamon yelled. He shot out a powerful attack that managed to hit Icedevimon a second time.

"Way to go Yolei", TK said, "You can leave the rest to me. Patamon?" TK held out his Digivice and Patamon Digivolved to Angemon.

"This for what you did to Kari, Hand of Fate", Angemon punched Icedevimon and at the same time Aquilamon shot another Blast Rings. When the smoke cleared, Icedevimon was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Yolei asked. She looked all around, but there was no sign of the giant Digimon.

"Look up there", Gatomon said pointing to the sky. Flying through the air were pieces of data. Icedevimon had been destroyed, and now his data was returning to Primary Village.

"Now that that is done, can you guys give me a hand? I had to make a sudden pick up and I don't want to drop anything", Yolei asked. TK looked at Yolei with a puzzled look on his face and then he saw who was sitting on Aquilamon's back.

"Kari!" Gatomon yelled. She jumped onto Aquilamon and went over to her best friend. "Kari, are you all right?"

"I'm all right Gatomon. See?" Kari sat up straighter to prove to Gatomon that she was all right. Gatomon looked at Kari for a moment longer and then jumped into her lap. "I'm sorry I worried you, Gatomon", Kari said as she held the little Digimon close.

"Shouldn't we be getting back? I'm sure the others are worried about us by now," Patamon asked. Kari looked at him and then at the time on her D-terminal.

"Have we really been gone that long? I had no idea how late it was getting. The others won't be too happy", Kari said putting her D-terminal back into her pocket. Aquilamon landed on the narrow ledge and waited for Kari and Yolei to climb off, he then Dedigivloved back into Hawkmon. "Now I can greet you for real, Yolei", Kari told her friend. She gave her a giant hug and gave one to Hawkmon.

"How have things been at college, Yolei?" TK asked, also giving Yolei a hug.

"A lot of work, I miss being back at Odiba. Things were easier then. College is even more work than destroying control spires", Yolei said with a laugh. They all began to walk back up the mountain, talking about how things were going in their lives since they hadn't seen each other in several years. The only one who wasn't talking was Gatomon. She was walking in silence next to Kari, her focus somewhere else.

"Gatomon, what's wrong? You've been really quite", Kari asked. Gatomon looked up at Kari but her expression didn't change.

"Kari, things are finally starting to make sense. Why I lost my energy so quickly when we were flying. Why I can't stay digivolved for very long. Back in your world, when we were fighting Ladydevimon, she hit me after she activated that black device. If what Icedevimon said was true, then I'll keep losing my energy. I won't be able to protect you, what am I going to do?" Gatomon asked. Her eyes were filled with fear as she looked at Kari. "Think about it, normally, I would have been able to rip Icedevimon to ribbons but he stopped me so easily. I really am losing my power."

"What is she talking about? What black device?" Yolei asked. Kari looked at Gatomon and then back at Yolei.

"It's a long story; we'll tell you when we get back to the others. They'll want to hear as well", TK told Yolei. Kari looked at him and mouthed a thank you. She didn't want to think about what had just happened. Gatomon was very worried at now Kari was as well. What would happen if Gatomon completely ran out of energy? Kari didn't even want to think about it, so she kept walking. After a little while, they made it back to the peak of the mountain and were greeted by 11 different voices all at once.

While they were gone, Davis had arrived and was hounding Kari about where she had been and why she hadn't been there to greet him.

"Davis, I'm sorry but right now we have bigger problems", Kari snapped.

"Kari, what exactly happened?" Tai asked before Davis had the chance to respond. Kari sighed and looked at Gatomon; this was going to be a hard story to tell.**

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**

Hi everyone: I know I haven't had time to introuduce myself so far in this story. I keep forgetting. Well you can call me Water Wolf and this is my first complete Digimon story. I hope you all have been enjoying Sinking into Darkness so far. I had a really fun time writing this and when I first started I didn't know that I would have as much fun writing it as I did. So I hope you all continue to read and I would love for some reviews on what you all think so far. Though I knidly ask for no suggestions on what I should or should not do in upcoming chapters because this story is already completed and I do not want to go back adn change what I worked so hard on. Thank you all for your time and I look forward to more reviews. And please continue to look for more stories that I will write in the future. Water Wolf out. :)


	12. DeDigivolving

**I do not own Digimon. Whoever does must be the luckiest person alive. **

Part 12: De-Digivolving

"So then Patamon Digivolved and he and Aquilamon were able to destroy Icedevimon", Kari said finishing the story of what had recently happened.

"We heard the explosions from up here but we had no idea it was from where you all were. If we had known, we could have come to help", Matt said.

"I don't know much about Digimon yet, but is it common to get attack by 3 bad Digimon in one day?" Susan asked. She was sitting on the far side of the campfire with Lunamon sitting in her lap. Scott sat next to her and listened in wonder at the story they had just been told. Another thing he couldn't get over was the way Davis acted around Kari. He thought he was acting like a total jerk and Scott though that Kari deserved something better than him. He was happy to see that Kari seemed to ignore Davis' obnoxious behavior.

"So Gatomon's energy is going to keep going down? Is there anything that we can do to stop it?" Mimi asked. Kari shook her head at Mimi and squeezed Gatomon even tighter.

"I don't know Mimi; we have to find out soon though. We also have to be really careful, if this happens to any of the other Digimon, it could cause major problems", Kari said. She didn't want to show it, but she was terrified. If anything happened to Gatomon, Kari didn't know what she would do. Kari was trying her hardest to hide how afraid she was, it would only make the others afraid. Especially Scott and Susan, they were terrified already from everything that happened in this one day. Kari put on a small smile, hoping that it would fool the others into thinking that she wasn't as afraid as she really was. Unfortunately, it didn't work on everyone. Gatomon, Tai, and TK knew Kari too well. They were able to see right through her fake smile but they didn't say anything, though they did stare at Kari. Kari saw the concern in their eyes, she tried to not look at them but it was too hard.

"So what are we going to do now? Sit here until this nightmare is over?" Susan asked suddenly. Everyone looked at her with a face of surprise. Susan's entire body was shaking; poor Lunamon had no idea what was happening. "Look, I'm sorry but this isn't my fight. I never signed up for this, I was drafted and now all I want to do is go back home. This world is too crazy for me and I don't want any part of it. So, if you all don't mind, I'm going to go take the first train back to reality. See you all around." Susan stood up and started to walk away.

"Susan, don't go. You have no idea what's out there", Sora called out, but Susan didn't stop.

"Kari, you and Scott know her better than anyone here. Will you go get her back?" Lunamon begged. Kari stood up to go after Susan but before she could take three steps, there was a sudden flash of light. Kari looked down and saw that Gatomon had de-Digivolved back into Salamon.

"I'm sorry Kari, I just didn't have the energy to stay Digivolved any longer", Salamon apologized. Kari picked up Salamon and smiled at the little puppy Digimon.

"Don't feel bad Salamon, now come on. Let's go find Susan. Scott, are you coming?" Kari asked.

"Um, yeah sure, let's go Liollmon", Scott said standing up. He followed Kari down the side of the mountain.

"I think I'll go with them, after what you all have told me, I don't want them out there alone", Tai said also standing up. Agumon followed Tai as he ran to catch up with Kari and Scott.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Sora", Biomon said. Sora patted Biomon on the head and smiled

"Me too, but we'll get through it like we've gotten through everything else.

**Pretty please with sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries and chocolate sauce on top review! It feeds my plot bunny Skip. Without him I have no motivation to write and/or update. So don't kill bunnies!**


	13. Comrade

Part 13: Comrade

"Susan, where are you?" Kari called out. They had been looking all over the side of the mountain and yet there was no sign of Susan. They had walked halfway down the mountain and everyone was getting tired.

"Tai, how much do we have to keep walking? My feet are sore", Agumon whined for the fifteenth time.

"We can stop when we find Susan. She's never been to the Digital World before and now she's out there without her Digimon. We have to find her before something bad happens", Tai responded. He looked ahead and saw that both Kari and Scott were calling out Susan's name. Kari was holding Salamon close and Liollmon was following at Scott's heels like a real dog. Tai quickened his pace and grabbed Kari's arm, slowing her down. "Kari, don't think for a second you had me fooled back at the campfire before. You're upset about this and I can tell. So what's really going on?"

"Tai, I'm afraid. Why are all of these Digimon after us and where did they get the black boxes? We just saved the Digital World, how is it in danger again? I just don't know what to do, and now Salamon is losing her energy, I'm terrified about what is going to happen", Kari sobbed. Tai sighed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Kari, I know you're worried but you don't have to keep that inside. We're all here to help you, you can tell any of us how you feel", Tai reminded her.

"I know Tai; I just didn't want to frighten Susan and Scott; they've never been here and if they see that I'm afraid then they will panic. I don't want to do that to them." Tai was about to respond when a scream filled the air. It had come from around the corner and it was loud enough to make Kari and Tai jump. "That's Scott!" Kari yelled. She ran around the corner to see Scott lying on the ground and Liollmon snarling at a giant Digimon. It was unlike any Digimon Kari and Tai had ever seen. It was at least 1o feet tall and looked like the devil himself. Red and black in color, he had two skinny wings sprouting from his back and he carried a trident similar to the one from painting of the devil.

"Wa-what is that Digimon?" Kari asked.

"His name is Phelsemon; he's an ancient Digimon that is nothing but trouble. His Demon Scream attack will leave you stunned", Agumon explained.

"I feel honored; I too have heard things about you children. The Digidestined, the ones who fight for the power of light, you all seem surprised to see me", Phelsemon said with a jeer.

"Scott, get away from there, you could get killed", Kari called. If this Digimon was working with the other Digimon they had encountered, they would be in trouble. Scott jumped up and ran back behind Kari and Tai. Liollmon stayed where he was, bearing his teeth at Phelsemon.

"Loose the attitude, pussy cat. You and I both know you don't have the power to defeat me. So scram", Phelsemon said. Liollmon didn't move and Phelsemon rolled his eyes. With a swift movement, he stepped right over Liollmon's head. "My real target is you little humans."

"Agumon, Digivolve!" Tai yelled holding out his Digivice.

"You will do no such thing, Black Statue", Phelsemon yelled. A strange black mist began to fill the air and it surrounded Agumon. Somehow, the mist solidified and Agumon was turned into a life size statue.

"Agumon, no!" Tai yelled. Agumon was frozen where he stood, incased in the black stone.

"What are we going to do Kari? I don't have the strength to Digivolve", Salamon cried. She could only watch helplessly as this Digimon tried to hurt her friends.

"Scott, it's up to you. You have to get Liollmon to Digivolve, or else we're sitting ducks", Kari yelled. Phelsemon was closing in and they were running out of time.

"I don't know how, there's nothing I can do", Scott panicked. He watched as Phelsemon closed in on his friends and wished that there was something that he could do.

"Scott, please, you have to try. We need your help, hurry!" Kari screamed. Scott knew that Kari was in danger and that he was the only one who could help her.

Pulling out his Digivice like he had seen the others do, he looked at Liollmon and wished with all his heart that he could get his Digimon to Digivolve, but he didn't know what to do. "Leo Claw!" Liollmon called out. He swiped at Phelsemon and the giant Digimon actually stopped.

"You little pest, get out of my way", Phelsemon hissed. He went to strike Liollmon, but Scott pushed his Digimon out of the way before he got the chance.

"Scott!" Liollmon screamed when he was his partner hit the ground. "You'll pay for that", Liollmon growled. A bright light began to shine; it enveloped Liollmon and blinded everyone around him. "Liollmon Digivolve to… Liamon!" The light around Liollmon faded and in the little cub's place was a large lion. He glowed with a golden radiance and locked eyes with Phelsemon. "If you want to hurt these kids, you'll have to destroy me", Liamon growled.

"That shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but I think I'd much rather destroy these kids and make you watch their suffering", Phelsemon said, but before he could attack he stopped. He sneered at something and then began to laugh. "You brats are in luck; my orders are not to destroy you. Though, mark my words, I will return and then I will finish you off", Phelsemon said laughing. He flapped his wings and a powerful gust of wind blew all around Tai and Kari. Somehow, his tiny wings were strong enough to life Phelsemon into the sky and he flew away, towards the ocean.

"Scott, are you all right?" Liamon asked, nudging Scott with his nose. Scott groaned and opened his eyes.

"Where did you come from?" Scott asked. He sat up and looked at Liamon with wonder.

"I was Liollmon, now I am Liamon. When I saw that you were in danger, I was able to Digivolve. Though, if I was you, I would turn my attention to Agumon" Liamon said, turning in the direction of where Agumon was still standing.

"Agumon, can you hear me?" Tai asked. He shook the frozen Agumon but nothing happened. "Agumon, come on, you have to be OK. I need you, pal", Tai cried. His body began to shake and Kari saw a stray tear roll down the side of his face.

"Tai…" Kari whispered. Agumon was in trouble and there was nothing that anyone could do. Kari began to feel the tears roll down her face as well. She shut her eyes and wished for it all to stop. She didn't want to be in this fight, too many of her friends were getting hurt and Kari couldn't take it anymore.

"Why is everyone crying?" Kari snapped her eyes open and stared in wonder. Agumon had spoken to them, the black stone had somehow melted away and Agumon was standing there looking at all of them. "What's wrong?" Agumon asked a second time. He seemed completely unfazed about the fact that he was just frozen in stone.

"Agumon, don't you remember what just happened?" Tai asked, rubbing the tears off of his face with his sleeve.

"No, should I?" Agumon asked. Tai shook his head and gave a faint smile.

"Just forget about it, everything is all right now. We still have to find Susan though", Tai told Agumon. "Scott, how do you feel man?" Scott was standing off to the side, next to Liamon.

"I'm fine, let's just go find Susan", Scott replied. Tai and Kari nodded in agreement and continued walking down the side of the mountain, yelling Susan's name as loud as they could. After two hours of searching, there was still no sign of her.

"Tai, what are we going to do? We've been searching for hours and we haven't found a trace. I'm worried, she's alone without her Digimon", Kari said gravely.

"I don't think there's anything more we can do. We can't stay out all night looking for someone who doesn't want to be found. I guess all we can do is head back and hope that we have better luck tomorrow."

"Wait, so we're just going to give up? Are you both out of your minds? We can't leave Susan out there alone", Scott yelled.

"He's right, or have you all forgotten how dangerous the Digital World is at night?" the now de-digivolved Liollmon asked.

"We haven't forgotten, but staying up the whole night looking for Susan will waste precious energy, energy that we can afford to lose if there are any other Digimon like Phelsemon out there. If you want to keep looking, then be my guest. I'm heading back; we've done everything that we can for one night", Tai said. He turned on his heel and began to climb back up the mountain. Kari sighed and followed her brother back up. Scott didn't move for a few moments, but then changed his mind and sprinted to catch up with Kari and Tai. He didn't want to leave Susan out there, but he knew Tai was right. There was nothing more that they could do.

"Hey, maybe Susan is back at camp already", Scott said hopefully.

"Don't count on it, if she had come back, one of the others would have e-mailed us, telling us to come back. As far as they know, we're still looking for her", Salamon said. Scott sighed and followed his friends in silence. Liollmon trailed right behind him in silence.


	14. Target

Part 14: Target

"Did you find her?" Lunamon asked the instant Kari, Tai and Scott appeared at the top of the mountain.

"No, we searched everywhere. It's like she vanished from the face of the Digital World", Tai said sitting down in front of the fire.

"We're sorry, Lunamon. There was nothing more that we could do. We searched the entire West side of the mountain. There was no trace of her. We'll continue looking first thing tomorrow morning", Kari said with a sad tone in her voice. She sat down next to TK and held Salamon close to her. "We did find something else though."

"What?" Davis asked impatiently.

"Another Digimon that attacked us, it was a Phelsemon. Something is not right about all of these Digimon attacks. He had one of those black box devices. He almost got us, but then Liollmon digivolved", Scott told them with a happier tone in his voice.

"Wow, you Digivolved? That's great…" Patamon told Liollmon.

"Can we please get back to the topic of evil Digimon attacking us every time we leave the mountain? I don't know about the rest of you, but I would like to figure out what they want and who sent them to attack us", Joe said calmer than usual. By this point in time, Joe would have normally begun panicking and yelling about how the world was going to end. "We need a strategy, a way for us to get down the mountain without getting attacked. These incidents are much more than coincidence. They are planned attacks and I would like to know by whom."

"Joe's right, at some point we'll have to face whoever is doing this. I think it would be best if we had some sort of plan for when that happens", Matt agreed quietly. He stared into the fire, a serious look on his face.

"I agree as well, if the enemy has a coordinated force, then we must be prepared. Perhaps there is a common weakness among them that we can utilize", Izzy pondered. "Anyone have any suggestions?" The only response Izzy got was the sound of snoring. Davis and Veemon had fallen asleep in the middle of the meeting.

"I like the way they think", Armadillomon said. "I think it would be best if we all got some shut eye. He curled up in a ball and shut his eyes. The other Digidestined began to do the same thing. One by one they all fell asleep. Everyone except for Izzy, he continued to sit by the fire, deep in thought.

"Izzy, aren't you going to get any sleep?" Tai asked with a yawn.

"I can't sleep; something is bugging me about this whole situation. These attacks are coordinated, but I don't know how. I've been trying to think of a common pattern between the four attacks that there have been. I just can't seem to think of anything, I'm going over every possible aspect." Izzy scratched his head and looked at all of his friends. Everyone had fallen asleep, Davis and Veemon were snoring loudly and he could hear the shallow breathing of the rest of the group. His eyes then fell on one of his friends and everything clicked into place, he had found the common factor. "Tai, come with me for a second. I just thought of something." Tai rubbed his eyes and stretched. Izzy walked a couple of yards away and pulled Tai along with him.

"All right, Izzy. What's this theory you have now?" Tai asked.

"Kari."

"What about her?" Tai asked, he was a little more alert now and looked Izzy straight in the eyes.

"I think Kari might be the common factor. Think about it for a second- Ladydevimon, WaruSeadramon, Icedevimon and Phelsemon. Kari has been present at all of the four attacks. The rest of us haven't seen another Digimon all day and Kari has run into four that want to destroy us. Doesn't that seem a little strange to you?" Tai turned and looked at his little sister asleep on the ground. Salamon was nestled in her arms and both of them were breathing softly.

"You have a point, but we can't be too sure yet. Let's not say anything to the others until we're sure. In the meantime we can keep a close watch on Kari and Salamon, if your theory is right then Kari is in danger", Tai told Izzy. He walked back to the dying fire and sat back down on the ground. In seconds he was asleep and soon after Izzy went back to the fire and opened up his computer. If he could get in touch with Genni, maybe he could shed some light on the Digimon that were attacking them. After a half hour of frantic typing, Izzy couldn't keep his eyes open any longer so he shut his computer off and closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Kari woke up before anyone else. She opened her eyes to the early morning light and looked around her. All of her friends were still sound asleep, even Salamon. Kari gently got up so she wouldn't wake up her sleeping Digimon and stretched. Kari then noticed that something was missing, Lunamon had vanished. "Lunamon?" Kari whispered. "Lunamon, where did you go?" When she didn't get an answer, Kari grew frantic. Lunamon was nowhere near strong enough to defend herself if she was attacked and without Susan, she didn't have a chance of Digivolving. Kari began to walk away, looking for any sign of Lunamon. "I don't believe this, first Susan and now Lunamon. Who's going to vanish next?" Kari asked to no one.

"You are my dear", a cold female voice said from behind her. Kari spun around to find herself locking eyes with Ladydevimon. "Long time no see, little human", the black witch laughed.


	15. Saved

**Hi fellow Digimon fans! Here's chapter 15 comin at ya! I know a lot of you are busy with whatever it is you may do but perhaps you could take a few seconds out of your time to write a short review for me. It really helps me to know waht you think of the story. Even if it's just something really short I'd love to hear from you and I'd be sure to message you back answering any questions or comments you have. Thanks so much everyone. And much to my dismay- I do not own Digimon. I know-tragic right? If I did everything after season 2 would be a continuation of that story. And there would be none of this season 5 and 6 crap going around messing everything up. **

Part 14: Saved

"Did you miss me, human?" Ladydevimon asked. Kari shook in fear at the sight of the powerful ultimate Digimon and couldn't find the words to answer.

"I can smell your fear, it's delicious. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not. So come along quietly like a good little girl." Ladydevimon reached out to grab Kari but she backed up, out of her reach.

"Wa-what do you want?" Kari asked with a weak voice. She knew that leaving the group without Salamon was a bad idea.

"Look kid, I want nothing to do with you, I'm just following orders", Ladydevimon sneered. She tried to grab Kari a second time but Kari kept backing up.

"Who's orders?" Kari demanded. Ladydevimon sighed and put her face in her hand.

"You ask too many questions, just shut your mouth and come with me. I'm growing impatient with you, now come here." Ladydevimon lunged out and wrapped her cold fingers around Kari's thin arm. Her grip was like iron and Kari couldn't pull free, all she could do was scream and hope that someone back at the camp heard her.

"Don't touch her, you witch. Puppy Howling!" a Digimon let out a high pitched bark that distracted Ladydevimon for a mere second, but it was long enough for Kari to pull away from her grasp.

"Salamon!" Kari yelled when she saw her Digimon standing behind where she had been.

"Insect, I'll deal with you later. Right now, all I care about is getting this girl back", Ladydevimon hissed. She jumped forward and tried to grab Kari a third time. Right before she was about to catch her, Ladydevimon was thrown back by a powerful attack by another Digimon.

"Kari, are you OK?" someone called. Behind Salamon, Kari could see TK running down the hill towards her, Angemon flying above him. It had been Angemon's attack that saved Kari. "Kari, get out of there!"

"No you don't, you brat." Ladydevimon flew forward and snatched Kari up and held her in a death grip, her long nails digging into Kari's skin. "Anyone dares to move, I'll squeeze the life out of her", Ladydevimon growled.

"TK, don't worry about me. Destroy her, you have to", Kari choked out. Ladydevimon was crushing her rib cage and it hurt for her to even talk. "Just do it, TK. We can't let her get away."

"But, I don't want to hurt you", TK said back quietly.

"TK, don't worry about me, I'll be all right. Trust me", Kari whispered.

"You dare boy, and I'll crush her." To prove her point, Ladydevimon tightened her grip on Kari. Kari let out a scream and TK could see the tears of pain that were running down her face. "You don't want to risk the life of your little friend here do you?"

Kari looked TK square in the eyes and mouthed the word "Go." TK nodded and looked over at Angemon.

"Hand of Fate", Angemon punched at Ladydevimon. His attack was so fast; Ladydevimon didn't have the chance to react. She dropped Kari who fell to the ground coughing. Angemon continued to fight Ladydevimon as TK and Salamon ran to Kari.

"Kari, are you all right?" Salamon asked. Kari didn't answer, but continued to cough and breathe deeply. She touched her side where Ladydevimon had pierced her skin and when she pulled her hand away, there were traces of blood on her fingers.

TK's eyes grew wide and his expression turned to fury. "Angemon, destroy her!" He yelled. Angemon didn't need to be told twice. He let out a flurry of powerful attacks and Ladydevimon didn't have a second to recover. She screamed loudly and her data began to break apart.

"If you think you have accomplished anything, you're wrong. All you have done in delay the inevitable. Ta-ta for now Digibrats", Ladydevimon said with her last words. When she was gone, Angemon de-digivolved back into Patamon and went to join TK, Kari and Salamon.

"We need to get you back to the others. I'm sure Joe has something that he can use to help you", TK said. He helped Kari to her feet but she fell back down as soon as he let go.

"TK, thank you, I owe you", Kari whispered. It still hurt for her to talk or even breathe for that matter.

"Don't say another word. Just try to relax, all right. Come on, let's go back." TK helped Kari back up again, but this time didn't let go of her. He supported her the entire way back to the camp. Patamon and Salamon followed next to TK and Kari, watching silently as they slowly made their way back up the mountain. Salamon noticed that with every step, Kari winced but never said anything. "We're almost there, Kari. Hold on a little bit longer," TK reassured

As they made it to the top of the mountain, Kari saw that only some of the Digidestined were awake. Davis, Veemon, Yolei, Hawkmon, Agumon and Tentomon were all still sleeping. Mimi, Palamon, Sora and Biomon were nowhere in sight and everyone else was sitting around talking. Everyone's heads turned as Kari and TK came up the hill. "Kari!" Tai yelled as he saw his sister being supported while she walked. "What happened?"


	16. Waves

**Hi everyone! Here I am with pasr 16! Now instead of me saying the disclaimer I have my good friend Lunamon here to say it.**

**Lunamon: Hi readers. I'ts nice to meet you! Water Wolf 100 doesn't own any characters of Digimon seen in the anime or magna. She does own Susan and Scott and she would like it if you didn't try to steal them from her. Thank you very much. **

**Me: Thanks Lunamon. You're a lot nicer in giving disclaimers than some of the other chartacters I've asked. *coughIggyofMaximumRidecough* Well enjoy the next chapter! And don't fprget to review!**

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Part 16: Waves

Kari had no idea where she was, she heard the sound of the waves and could smell the sea water but she knew Infinity Mountain was too high up to hear the waves. Kari then became aware that someone was next to her. Whoever it was; was holding her close and she thought she heard them whispering things to her. Curious, Kari opened her eyes; the very first thing she saw was a pair of bright blue eyes. Mustering up what little strength she had she whispered, "TK?"

"It's me, Kari. Are you all right?" TK smiled at her, thankful that she was awake. Kari sat up slowly; she felt dizzy and didn't want to fall over.

Then she remembered what had happened to them. She cried out, "Nyaromon, Ken, Scott", TK put his hand on her arm to calm her down. "Where are they? For that matter, where are we?" Kari looked around and she felt her heart grow heavy, she knew this world. A little too well for her liking, it was the Dark Ocean.

Kari watched as the waves crawled up and down on the sand before them. They were sitting about twenty feet from the water's edge, behind them, a giant rock wall towered. From next to Kari a voice said, "The others are OK, they went to go look around, to see if anyone else got caught in the same vortex we did." Kari looked down to see Nyaromon sitting at her feet. The little Digimon was covered in sand, which made her look brown rather than yellow. "They left about fifteen minutes ago. We just sat here and waited for you to wake up." Kari picked up Nyaromon and dusted some of the sand off of her fur.

"How am I back in this world? Why does it keep pulling me into it?" Kari asked while finishing brushing the sand off of Nyaromon. She set her back down in the sand and looked over at TK. "TK, I just don't understand what it wants with me, what did I ever do to this world?"

TK looked at Kari with a concerned look and gave a tiny smile. "I don't know Kari, but don't worry because this time you're not alone. Together we'll all figure out why it pulled us here and then we'll all go home together."

"Hey, Kari glad to see you're awake", a boy's voice called out. TK and Kari could see Ken, Scott, Wormmon, and Liollmon walking down the shore. "We didn't find anything. Not a trace, I think we were the only ones that got sucked in. In fact, there's nothing here at all, just some rocks, water and a lot of sand. Speaking of which, is someone ever going to tell me where we are? Are we still in the Digital World?" Scott demanded. He and Scott had reached the spot where TK and Kari were and sat down in the sand next to them.

Ken and Kari looked at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with Scott. TK, on the other hand, looked right at Scott and said, "This isn't the Digital World. We're in the Dark Ocean. It's a world made of darkness, nothing good comes out of this place."

"I've almost lost Kari to this stupid world, twice, and now it's pulling us back in again. What does it want with us?" Nyaromon asked. Kari looked down at Nyaromon and smiled weakly, she knew how defensive she could get when it came to the Dark Ocean. Kari knew that Nyaromon was extremely worried about her. Kari then looked over at Ken; the dark world had hurt him a lot more than it had hurt her. After all this was the world that gave him his black Digivice and it constantly haunted him with memories of his days as the Digimon Emperor.

"So, what are we going to do?" Liollmon asked. "Do we sit around here until help comes or do we go and look around?"

"Either one is dangerous, but since sitting here won't get us home, we might as well go look round for a while. Maybe we can find another hole in the barrier that will take us back to the Digital World", Kari suggested.

"I'm not sure that's such a great idea, what if it takes us to another world entirely?" TK pointed out. Kari's face fell and she nodded in agreement.

Scott looked bewildered, "Another world? How many worlds are there?" he inquired.

"There are countless worlds out there, our world, the Digiworld, this one… No one knows how many different worlds there are out there. If we go around jumping into random portals, who knows where we'll end up or if we'll be able to get back", TK explained. Ken and Kari nodded; they all too well remembered the world that Malomyotismon had led them to six years ago. "I'm sure there's another door to the Digi World somewhere, but without knowing which one it is, we're stuck here."

"Too bad there's no one here that would be able to help us", Patamon said sadly.

Kari stood up and turned to face her friends, "Well, there's not so we might as well do something, it's better than sitting here." She said, "We're sitting ducks, this close to the water. Scott, Liollmon, two pieces of advice for both of you. If you see anyone or anything, ignore them. Don't trust anything you see in this place. And also, don't touch the water; this is a world of darkness, who knows what all that negative energy could do to someone."

Scott scooted even farther from the water's edge, "No worries there, Kari." The eight of them then began to tread down the beach, not looking for anything in particular. Kari looked out at the water and listened to the sound of the waves, they sounded just like the waves back in her home town. Thinking about her home, Kari grew sad; her mother was back in the real world, worrying about her. Kari shuddered when she thought about the horrible way she had acted towards her mom.

Kari felt something touch her arm; she looked over and saw TK walking right next to her. "You OK?" he asked. Kari nodded and smiled, she didn't want to worry TK about her petty problems. They had much bigger issues. "Are you sure?" He asked again.

"Yeah, just thinking about what kinds of creatures live down at the bottom of the ocean", Kari lied. TK glanced over towards the ocean and shuddered as well.

To Kari's surprise, he began to laugh. Gasping for breath he said, "Kari, only you would think of something like that while we are stuck in another world with no idea of how to get home. How do you do it?" Kari began to laugh as well, softly at first but then it grew. It felt good to laugh like that; it made it feel like the darkness backed away a little bit.

"May I ask what's so funny?" Scott demanded. He and Ken were ahead of them and were standing there waiting for Kari and TK to catch up. Scott was standing with his arms crossed and a sour expression on his face, it almost made him look like Davis, only with red hair. That only made Kari and TK laugh harder, they had to completely stop walking or else they would have fallen over. Kari held her sides and tried to stifle the laughter. "I really don't see anything funny about the situation."

"I'm sorry, Scott. We were talking and the way you were standing there made you look exactly like Davis", Kari said through gasps of breath. Scott looked at them like they had come from another planet; he didn't understand why they were laughing at a time like this. Pretty soon, Ken started to laugh as well. "Ah, you too?" Scott asked, jumping in the air. "Is everyone here losing their minds? I think the seawater is getting to you all."

Scott felt a tug on his pant leg. He glanced down and saw Liollmon sitting there. Liollmon looked up at Scott and said, "Scott, don't you see? Everyone is getting into a better mood, before we were all just marching down the beach in silence and now everyone seems to be having a better time. Laughter brightens spirits, it makes everyone forget about the fear they are all feeling.

"Look at their eyes, if you look really hard you can see the fear in them. They are looking for anything to laugh at to help them forget their fear. Look into their eyes." Scott looked at each of his friends in the eyes and saw that Liollmon was right. It was like he could see the fear dancing in them. Scott understood why they were laughing; he wondered if he had the same fear in his eyes.

"Liollmon, do you see fear in my eyes?" He asked, looking down at his Digimon. Liollmon managed to stand up on his hind legs by putting his front paws of Scott's shoulders. The lion cub Digimon looked Scott straight in the eyes and smiled.

"No, I don't see fear. You don't know what this world is really about so you have no reason to fear it. I do see something else though, curiosity. Let me guess, you want to know why you were picked for this, what it means to be a Digidestined and I'm sure a whole onslaught of other questions. Am I right?" Scott grinned ear to ear at his Digimon.

"You hit the nail on the head, pal. It was like you read my mind or something." Scott then began to laugh; he found it to be strangely comforting. It made him feel lighter, like he was back at home in California with his friends at the beach.

"What is so funny?" a voice hissed. Everyone stopped laughing and turned to face the water. "That's better, if I was you, I wouldn't find my destruction funny." Coming from the water were two figures, one tall and one short. They were both cloaked in darkness, moving towards the little group. With each step they took forward, everyone else took a step back.

"Who are you?" Scott asked, regaining his voice. Liollmon growled at the two figures as they left the water.

"Why Scott, I'm hurt. I can't believe that you don't recognize your best friend", the voice said. At that second, the cloak of darkness vanished and it turned out the one who was standing there, was Susan.


	17. Found

Hey guys Water Wolf here. Well I'd like to start off with saying that this story isn't getting as many reviews as I origionally hoped. I'm still posting though because some people have left some nice comments so this is for them. Without my reviewers I wouldn't be able to do what I do. Thank you all so much! And as usual I don't actually own Digimon, I just borrowed the characters, and setting, and concept. But I digress, on with the chapter!

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Part 17: Found

"Susan, is that you?" Scott asked. "Where did you go? You vanished, we looked everywhere for you." Neither Scott nor Kari believed that this was the same Susan that they had known for years. In the day and a half that she had been missing, her physical appearance had done a 180. Her hair, once blond and beautiful, somehow had turned black and coarse. Her skin was as ghastly as opaque glass and her once green eyes had now turned bright red.

"If you're Susan, then that must be…" Patamon started to say.

The cloak of darkness vanished around the second figure to reveal Lunamon. Though, while Susan had gone under extreme physical changes, Lunamon seemed to be exactly the same. She looked at her friends with sorrow in her eyes, whatever Susan was doing; Lunamon didn't want to be a part of it.

"I'm surprised to see all of you here, the portal wasn't meant for all of you to pass through", Susan hissed. She had reached the sand and was making her way across the beach to where the others were standing.

Kari looked at Susan and asked, "Who was it intended for?" She had a hunch, but she didn't want to say anything. Susan laughed at the look on Kari's face, confusion and concern.

"Come on Kari, you're a smart girl. Who do you think it's for? I'll give you one guess", Susan said smirking. Kari knew that she was right and she also was sure that Susan was aware that she knew. Kari shot a weary glance at TK; she didn't want to say anything to Susan. After all that had happened, who knew what the dark forces could be planning. And Susan coming out of the Dark Ocean couldn't be a good sign either. TK clenched his fists and glared at Susan, if it took every ounce of power he had, he would protect Kari from the forces of darkness.

Susan saw TK's expression and laughed again. "It seems I've made your boyfriend mad, Kari. You better tell him to back off; we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him? Would we?" Kari looked over at TK and saw the look of determination on his eyes. A look Kari knew she had seen, but couldn't remember where.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kari saw Scott moving toward Susan. She knew he was going to try something stupid and she didn't want to see him get hurt. Kari turned a little way and looked at Ken, she gave him a look that told him to stop Scott from moving and before Scott could take another step, Ken grabbed his arm and shook his head. Kari turned her attention back to Susan and Lunamon; they were standing in the sand, watching them.

"Susan, why are you doing this? We're your friends, what made you turn on us?" Kari asked.

"I was told by a Digimon, that if took on the power of darkness then he would grant me incredible power, power to control the worlds!" Susan laughed.

"Lunamon, why are you going along with this?" Nyaromon asked. She looked at her friends with sad eyes and wondered what would make such a sweet Digimon follow the powers of darkness.

"I told Susan, that whatever she decided to do, I would follow her to the very end. If this is what she wants to do, it is my responsibility to follow her", Lunamon said sadly. "I will do whatever she asks me to do." Lunamon's eyes seemed to be screaming "Help me", but her mouth stayed shut.

That's right, Lunamon. Now, destroy them, all of them. Except for the Digidestined of Light", Susan said with a maniacal grin on her face. She pulled out her Digivice and Lunamon sprung forward. "Lunamon, Digivolve!"

"Lunamon Digivolve to… Lekismon!"In place of the sweet little Lunamon, was a new Digimon, much larger Digimon, but Lekismon wasn't done there. "Lekismon Digivolve to… Crescemon", the now Ultimate level Digimon yelled. Crescemon looked like a cross between a human and a rabbit. She carried a shield and a long spear, both emblazoned with a crescent moon on them.

Kari gasped, "How, how did she Digivolve to the ultimate level? Susan would need a…"

"A crest, that's right. Take a look at what I found after I left the campsite that night", Susan held up a small gold piece of metal that hung on a thin string, inside of it was a crest. It was obvious there was a crest inside the tag, but something was wrong with it.

Kari and TK noticed that something was wrong with it, they usually shone whatever color the stone was, but this crest had turned black, a dark light emitted from it. "I'd like to show you all this, my wonderful crest, the crest of Faith. It chose me and granted me power beyond your imagination", Susan sneered. She shoved the crest back inside her pocket and the black light vanished. "Now, Crescemon, destroy the Digidestined!" Crescemon sighed and leapt into battle, she didn't want to be there, everyone could tell.

"Dark Archery!" Crescemon's spear changed into a bow gun and she began to fire arrows at the Digidestined, though these arrows weren't normal arrows. They were made of something other than wood or metal; they looked like they were made out of negative energy. Everyone jumped out of the way, crashing onto the sand, sending up clouds of dust around them.

"I've had enough of this! Patamon, Digivolve!" TK yelled standing up. Kari looked at TK's eyes; they had the same look of determination. Kari wished she could remember where she had seen it.

"Thought you'd never ask", Patamon said grinning. "Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!" Angemon floated in the sky, his light shining all around the dark area. "I don't want to do this to you my friend, please forgive me", Angemon said to Crescemon. "Hand of Fate!" Angemon used as much strength as he could afford to use, but the attack simply bounced off of Crescemon.

"Angemon, you're not strong enough, she's an ultimate", Ken called. He looked down at Wormmon and nodded. Wormmon understood and jumped into the battle.

"Wormmon Digivolve to… Stingmon", the light faded and Stingmon stood in the sand where Wormmon once was. "Spiking Strike!" Again, the attack did nothing to Crescemon.

"Scott, let me into the fight. I can Digivolve too", Liollmon said looking up at Scott. He gave a nod and pulled out his Digivice. "Liollmon Digivolve to… Liamon" The giant lion Digimon towered over most of the other Digimon and he looked ready for battle. "Thunder of Kings!" The mane around Liamon's neck began to spark and a powerful bolt of electricity came from Liamon. The bolt met head on with the arrows coming for Crescemon. When the electricity and the arrows came into contact, they created a miniature explosion and vanished into thin air. It looked like Liamon was about to win, when Crescemon decided to change battle tactics.

The rabbit warrior called out, "Lunatic Dance!" and let out an extreme combo of super fast dance moves.

"Don't fall for it; she's just trying to distract you",

Nyaromon called out to her friends. The fact that she couldn't fight along-side her fellow Digimon was killing her, if she could Digivolve, that floppy eared traitor would get another thing coming. She was also furious that she was unable to protect Kari, like she was supposed to. There was nothing Nyaromon could do, except watch and hope that the other Digimon were strong enough to win.

"Stop!" the command rung out through the air. All the Digimon froze in their tracks and looked to see who had stopped them in the middle of a fight. "This has gone on long enough; I don't really care what happens to the rest of you. The only thing I care about is completing my mission. Which means, the Digidestined of Light is doming with me", Susan said. She reached out a hand, like she expected Kari to simply go with her.

"Forget it, Kari's not going anywhere", TK snapped. Susan rolled her eyes and took a step forward, towards Kari and TK.

"You know what, TK? You're starting to get on my nerves, if you open your mouth again, you'll be taking a nice long swim in the Dark Ocean", Susan whispered. She got right up in his face, but he didn't move an inch. "You're persistent. Kari wasn't exaggerating when she told me about how you refuse to give up anything. No matter, I'm sure I can find a way to make you all change your minds about letting Kari come with me. Take a look over there, through the portal." Susan pointed to a black mass that had materialized out of nowhere; on the other side the Digidestined could see their comrades. They were standing right there, but for some reason they couldn't see the portal. "This is a one way gate; wouldn't it be unfortunate if a wayward creature from this world got through? I hope it wouldn't attack your friends…"

"Leave them out of this; leave them all out of this." Kari shouted, "I'm the one you're after so leave my friends alone. They shouldn't have to suffer because of me. I'm tired of running and being afraid, so leave my friends alone and just take me here and now."

Kari handed Nyaromon to TK and stepped forward. She knew the extreme danger she was about to face, but she didn't care anymore. She would do anything to keep her friends safe. Even if it meant turning herself over to the powers of darkness, like she had done all those years before.

"Don't do it Kari, I almost lost you once because you did something like this. Don't let everything we worked for go to waste", Nyaromon called. Kari ignored her and walked forward to join Susan. Turning to face her friends, she gave them a small smile.

"Let's go, my master is waiting, he's been waiting a long time to meet you", Susan said. She gestured towards the water and waited for Kari to go into it. She stood there for a minute, the waves almost touching her toes.

"You know what, Susan? You look a little flustered, you should go cool off!" Kari then shoved Susan in to the water with as much force as she could and ran back up the beach. "Go to the portal!" she yelled at TK, Scott and Ken. She looked back to see Crescemon trying to help Susan to her feet. She only had a few seconds left, she ran as hard as she had ever run before and dove headfirst into the portal, crashing into someone as she came out on the other side.

"Kari that had to be the most dangerous, idiotic, stupid yet most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life", TK said. Kari looked down at TK and gave him a big grin. She was sitting on his stomach looking down at him, but that wasn't the worst of it. TK, Scott, Ken, Nyaromon, Stingmon and herself had all landed into a huge dog-pile. Angemon and Liamon looked on with amusement; everyone was caught up in a big pile of tangled arms and legs.

Scott had finally gotten himself untangled from everyone else and was watching as the others all tried to get free. Suddenly Scott screamed, "Look there, what is that?" everyone turned to where he was pointing. It looked like the portal had reappeared; it looked like a swirling blue mist, but what Scott was freaking about was what had emerged from the mist. Slowly coming out, appeared to be a goat's head.

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PLEASE REVIEW! PRETTY PLEASE WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND CHERRIES ON TOP!


	18. Alone

Part 18: Alone

Scott stood mouth agape at the giant head that was emerging from the portal. He managed to choke out the words, "What is that?" Liamon growled fiercely and nudged Scott behind where he was standing.

"I've heard of that Digimon, his name is Mephistomon. He's an ultimate level Nightmare Soldier Digimon. If you anger him, he will unleash his Dark Cloud attack on you", Nyaromon said from Kari's arms. The goat headed Digimon had finished coming out of the portal and towered over the rest of them. He was at least 20 feet tall and had two large curling horns sprouting out of the top of his head. His hooves were as large as table tops and two tiny wings reached out of his back and blew in the breeze.

"I've come for the child of light", Mephistomon said in a cold, heartless voice. "You have avoided us for long enough, if you do not cooperate, I'll be forced to destroy your friends. Is that what you want, little light child?"

Kari looked back at Scott; he was trembling in fear at the sheer size and might of this Digimon. She knew that he wouldn't be able to help them if he was this afraid. "Scott", she whispered, "Go and find the others and bring them here. I have a feeling that we'll need back up." Scott looked over at her and nodded. He tapped on Liamon and the large Digimon turned to face him. Scott whispered Kari's request in his ear and he nodded. Crouching down, Liamon allowed Scott to climb on his back. Like lightning, Liamon dashed through the trees, Scott holding on for dear life.

Mephistomon laughed as he saw Scott leave. "It seems your friend has abandoned you", he chuckled.

"It's not him I'd be concerned about if I was you", Ken grumbled. Mephistomon turned and glared at Ken. "I'd be more concerned about dealing with us."

"You make me laugh little human. What are two Champion levels and an In-training Digimon going to do to me?" He laughed again and took a step forward, the ground shaking with the weight of his body striking the firm earth. "Now, step aside humans so that I may take the human with me" He moved his arm to shove TK and Ken out of the way when Angemon shot him with one of his arrows.

"If you want to take Kari, you will have to go through all of us", Angemon said proudly. Mephistomon grinned slyly and pulled Angemon out of the sky.

"Then I'll start with you", he hissed. Mephistomon threw Angemon through the trees and he crashed into a large rock, causing it to shatter. "Does anyone else want to challenge me?" he mocked.

"Angemon, are you all right?" Stingmon asked. Angemon didn't respond and Stingmon shot a glare of death at Mephistomon. "You'll regret that, Spiking Strike!" Mephistomon simply sidestepped and avoided Stingmon's most powerful attack. Stingmon ended crashing into a large tree, getting stuck in the trunk. Ken ran over to him, he tried to pull his friend out of the tree, but he was stuck tight.

"And then there was one", Mephistomon said with a grin. Kari looked around and saw that she was alone, Ken was still trying to pull Stingmon out of the tree and TK was getting the now De-digivolved Patamon from the remains of the rock. "This was much too easy, if I had known that capturing you would be so simple, I would have spared my colleagues the trouble of trying to weaken you by de-energizing your Digimon. Taking her energy wasn't even necessary, what a waste of time. Won't the master be surprised, he made the black devices for your Digimon alone and it wasn't even needed," the evil Digimon said with a sigh.

"Kari, get away from him!" TK yelled. He was running as fast as he could to try and reach Kari in time. Kari looked back at the Digimon towering over and knew that there was no hope left.

Nyaromon leapt out of Kari's arms and hovered for a moment in front of Mephistomon's face. She spun around and yelled, "Tail Whip!" Using her tail as a weapon, Nyaromon slapped Mephistomon in the face repeatedly. Her attack didn't last long and the amount of energy she used caused her to De-Digivolve again. There was a small flash of light and a tiny Digimon fell out of the air. No bigger than a basketball, she was snow white with shiny black eyes.

"She's a baby level now, that's YukimiBotamon. Gatomon's lowest level", Patamon said in wonder. Kari caught YukimiBotamon before she hit the ground and held her close.

"YukimiBotamon, why did you do that?" Kari asked, squeezing the little Digimon. Mephistomon stared at the tiny Digimon in Kari's arms and his eyes filled with fire.

"Come here cretin, I will teach a lesson you will never forget", he snarled reaching for YukimiBotamon. Kari backed away from Mephistomon's grasp and held the white Digimon even closer to her. "I've had enough of this game of cat and mouse, come here", Mephistomon roared. He reached out to grab Kari but TK managed to pull her out of the way. He wasn't able to stop YukimiBotamon from jumping out of Kari's arms. The snow white Digimon looked like a piece of dust compared to the size of Mephistomon. The baby Digimon then attempted to attack by shooting ice particles from her mouth, they didn't even hit Mephistomon before vanishing into thin air.

"YukimiBotamon, no, get out of there!" Kari screamed. She tried to run to her Digimon, but TK held her back. He knew that it was too dangerous and that there was nothing Kari could do to save her Digimon. YukimiBotamon tried to attack again, but Mephistomon beat her to the punch.

"Dark Cloud!" he screamed. From his hands, waves of what looked like pure darkness erupted. YukimiBotamon looked back and Kari could have sworn she saw the little Digimon smile at her. The waves of darkness then surround her and she vanished. The data that made her up simply evaporated into the air. Absolutely no trace of YukimiBotamon was left; the only thing that remained from where she stood was the dead grass that had been corroded by Mephistomon's attack.

Kari couldn't believe what she was seeing; her Digimon was gone, right in front of her eyes. Kari couldn't see straight anymore, her whole world began to spin around her and she felt her legs buckle under her. As Kari fell to the ground, TK managed to catch her before she hurt herself. As he held Kari he felt tears well up in his eyes.

"This was much too easy", Mephistomon said laughing loudly, "Now onto my real target." TK saw Mephistomon reaching for where they were sitting, but no force in the world would make him move from that spot. He had to protect Kari, he made a promise and he had no intention of breaking it, not now when Kari was in the greatest danger of her life.

"Terra Force!" the attack rang out like music to TK's ears. He looked up to see Wargreymon flying toward them. He was followed by MetalGarurumon and Liamon. Riding on the back of MetalGarurumon was Tai and Matt. TK then realized they were in the line of fire and ducked to the ground, taking Kari down with him. The explosion sent a nova soaring through the trees, almost engulfing TK and Kari.

"YukimiBotamon", Kari whispered. She was vaguely aware of the explosion that had taken place. She could feel the heat of the fire creep on the back of her neck and she could hear the scream of a Digimon. She wasn't sure whose it was, but it was a scream of pain. Kari then felt someone lift her up and guide her away from the heat of the fire.

She heard several voices around her, but none of their words made sense to her, it was just noise to her. "YukimiBotamon…" Kari whispered again. Kari then felt herself being lifted up and then she had the feeling like she was flying, the wind ran past her, blowing her hair in all directions. The whole time, she felt the presence of someone right next to her, holding her close. "Yukimi…" was all Kari was able to get out before she felt her world go black.


	19. Promise

Part 19: Promise

"Explain to me one more time what happened." Scott asked. He was sitting in a cave with Liollmon, TK, Patamon, Sora, Biomon and Kari. Kari was still unconscious from the battle against Mephistomon and the others were very worried about her.

"Mephistomon destroyed YukimiBotamon and right after, you guys came. Wargreymon then destroyed Mephistomon and we all got away before anything else happened", TK said. He looked over at Kari for what seemed to be the hundredth time in the past hour. He hadn't left her side since they arrived at the cave the day before. Most of the others had gone out to try and find Susan again. Sora had stayed behind to lend a hand in taking care of Kari. Joe had looked her over and she wasn't too badly injured, there were some minor burns from the fire, but TK and Ken had those too.

TK hadn't had the chance to tell the others about Susan yet. They had left soon after arriving at the cave, Tai was furious about what had happened to his little sister. He was ready to go on a rampage and destroy every evil Digimon by hand if he could. The only reason he had left to go look for Susan was because he trusted TK and Sora, he knew they would do everything in their power to keep her safe and take care of her until he returned.

"TK, from what you've told me, these Digimon tried to weaken Gatomon on purpose, so they could weaken Kari?" Sora asked. She was trying to figure out what the Digimon's motive in destroying YukimiBotamon was.

"If that was what they wanted to do, they did it very well", Biomon said sadly. She missed her friend and wished there was something she could do to help.

"Exactly, that's what worries me. If one of those Digimon comes back, it'll be hard to protect Kari", TK said glumly. He was worried about Kari, not as much about her physical health; he knew she would be all right. He was worried about how she would react to realizing her Digimon was gone. TK remembered how he felt when he lost Patamon; he didn't want Kari to feel the same he had back then.

Sora smiled at him gently and said, "TK, I know that you won't let anything happen to her. That's why Tai left her in our care; he knows that you won't allow any danger come to her." TK nodded and walked over to where Kari was lying. He sat down next to her and gripped her hand.

"Sora, can I talk to you for a minute?" Scott asked softly. He had to find out why TK cared so much about Kari why they were so close.

"Sure Scott, come on, let's go get some more firewood. TK, we'll be right back" Sora called. TK waved goodbye to them and Scott and Sora walked out of the cave. "What's up, Scott?" Sora asked when they were out of TK's ear shot.

"Why does TK go to such great lengths to take care of Kari? Why are they so close?" Scott demanded. Sora smiled at Scott and began to pick up pieces of fire wood.

"A long time ago, we eight original Digidestined were fighting a group of very evil Digimon who called themselves the Dark Masters. We were fighting the most powerful of them, his name was Pidemon. Pidemon had managed to capture everyone except for me, TK, Kari, Patamon and Gomomon. I knew that if we were all caught, the Digital World would be lost. So, I took TK aside and told him to take Kari and get out of there. TK wanted to stay and fight, but I told him it was more important for him and Kari to get out, so that the Digital World still had a chance.

"TK was reluctant to but, in the end he agreed. I asked him if he would be able to protect Kari. He promised me that he would always protect Kari and I think he still carries that promise with him today.

"They have been best friends since the day they met and TK has always taken care of Kari, like he promised to me he would all those years ago. They were only eight back then, but I don't think either of them have forgotten that day. It's what brought them closer together; it's why they care so much about each other now."

Scott pondered about it for a while, picking up sticks in silence. He knew that he would never be as close to Kari as TK was, but that didn't mean he couldn't care about her. "I guess that does make sense, thanks Sora", he finally muttered after a while. Liollmon looked at him with a knowing expression on his face. Patamon had told him about the battle with Pidemon before he ever met Scott. Liollmon had heard all about the adventures of the Digidestined and the struggles they had gone through. Now, it seemed like the biggest struggle was about to happen. "Sora, will Gatomon ever come back?"

"I'm sure she will, Scott. Digimon don't really die, they're made of data so when they get destroyed, it gets reconfigured in Primary Village. She'll be reborn; it'll just take some time. Kari knows that, we all do, but seeing your best friend being destroyed in front of your eyes takes a toll on the mind", Sora told him. She remembered how TK reacted when Angemon was destroyed, he had been devastated. Sora was sure that TK could help Kari get through this; he knew what she was going through.

"Scott, we better get going back. The others will return soon and we don't want them thinking that we've gone missing too", Liollmon suggested. He took off through the trees, followed by Scott and Sora who were both trying to carry two large bundles of firewood.

They made it back relatively quickly, only to find things exactly as they had left them. TK was still sitting by Kari, who was still unconscious and Patamon was asleep by the fire. "Hey, how is she?" Sora asked setting the wood down.

"She moved a little bit ago, but didn't open her eyes. She'll wake up soon, I know she will", TK said, he whispered the last part. He didn't want Sora or Scott to hear the worry in his voice, truth be told, he had no idea when or if Kari would wake up. "Please wake up Kari, I need you, we all do."

From the mouth of the cave, there was a sound of footsteps. Everyone turned to see Tai standing in front of the cave. "We're back, how did things go here?" he asked. Following Tai, the rest of the Digidestined trudged into the cave. They all looked exhausted and one by one plopped down wherever there was space. The cave was not very large, and they were all cramped inside it but it was well hidden from any Digimon that might be looking for trouble.

"Has Kari woken up yet?" Davis asked impatiently. He was jealous that TK got to spend all this time taking care of Kari and he had to go out and look for some girl who didn't want to be found.

TK glared at Davis and growled, "Does it look like it?" Davis held his hands up in defense and backed away from TK. TK rolled his eyes and turned back to Kari. She looked so peaceful, like a sleeping angel. He was furious at himself for not being able to protect her, despite everyone telling him that there was nothing he could have done.

"Any sign of Susan?" Sora asked, breaking the tension between TK and Davis. All the Digidestined shook their heads, Susan had once again vanished. TK knew that it was time to tell the others what they had seen in the Dark Ocean.

"Guys, there's something I have to tell you", TK muttered. Scott and Ken looked at him and nodded and TK told all of the Digidestined what happened to them in the Dark Ocean.


	20. Tears

**GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN GOMEN! 100000000000 X GOMEN! I accidently posted a chapter from my Maximum Ride story. They were both the 20th chapter in their stories so I must have just looked for the 20. I bring shame to the fanfiction community. I hope you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me. I've removed the incorrect chapter and this is indeed the correct chapter! A big thank you to Angel of Spirit for pointing out my horrendous mistake. I promise it shall never happen again. (This must be what Ritsu feels like everytime something goes wrong and he thinks its his fault. haha Fruits Basket reference gotta love them) anywho you all have waited long enough for this chapter so here's the real ch 20. Again- gomen for my huge mistake. Oh and I don't own Digimon btw. **

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Part 20: Tears

Kari had no idea where she was, she couldn't feel anything, she couldn't see anything. All that was there was darkness, Kari could sense it all around her. "Gatomon?" Kari called out. "Gatomon, are you there?"

"Kari…" a voice whispered. It seemed to come from every direction. Though she couldn't tell where it was coming from, she knew who it belonged to.

"Gatomon, where are you?" Kari yelled. Her friend was somewhere in this vast darkness and she had to find her.

"Kari, I'm here", Gatomon called. In front of Kari, Gatomon began to materialize. Kari ran to her and scooped her up in her arms, holding her close.

"Why did you have to leave me, Gatomon? What were you thinking, fighting an ultimate level when you were just a baby? You knew you were going to get destroyed, didn't you?" Kari sobbed into Gatomon's soft fur.

"I did know, Kari. That's why I did it, you were in danger and it's my job to protect you. I'd rather be destroyed protecting you than losing my energy and leaving you without doing my job. I'm sorry, Kari, I had to go", Gatomon cried. Kari didn't let go, instead, she held tighten onto Gatomon. As if she was trying to keep her from leaving again.

"Gatomon, I don't know what I'll do without you."

"Kari, you promised me; even if I leave you'll keep fighting. There's a battle out there and you need to be a part of it. I know you think you need me, but your friends need you just as much. Don't you know how worried they are about you? TK is blaming himself for what happened to you; now go back to where you belong. When the time is right, I'll come back to you as well. Until then, just remember, I'm always with you Kari. We're a part of each other, so keep fighting as if I was right beside you."

"But Gatomon, I'm not as strong without you", Kari argued setting Gatomon back down.

"Now I don't want to hear that, you're strong, Kari. You've done things people have only dreamed of and excelled in it. You are one of the strongest people I know; you'll just have to draw your strength from somewhere else. All of the others, they care about you, especially TK. Don't you remember? All those years ago, the two of you held your own against Pidemon."

Kari did remember, and then it hit her. The place where she saw the same determined look on TK's face, it was at Pidemon's castle, when he was trying to protect them from Pidemon, he had the same look on his face. It dawned on Kari that all those times TK had protected the Kari smiled and put a hand to her heart, she knew in her heart that she could count on TK, now more than ever. "It's time to go, Kari. The others are waiting for you.

"I love you, Gatomon. I'll wait for you, and we'll see each other again." Kari squeezed Gatomon tight before getting up from the cold ground. She knew she had to go back, but she wasn't sure how to do that. Kari looked back down to Gatomon, but the little Digimon was gone.

"Kari, please wake up, I need you", Kari heard a voice say softly. Whoever it was sounded sad, they were afraid. Kari knew the voice, she heard it so many times, it was a part of her. Kari followed the sound of the voice and the darkness began to fade away.

Kari began to run, faster and faster. Her lungs felt like they were about to explode and then, the darkness was gone. In its place was the most beautiful light she had ever seen. It blinded Kari for a moment and when it began to fade, Kari opened her eyes to who she thought for a moment was the face of an angel.

"TK?" Kari whispered softly. She was afraid that it wasn't real, that TK wasn't right next to her. TK's eyes sparkled and he put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quite.

"Kari, you're all right. I can't believe it, I was worried about you", TK said happily. Kari smiled and sat up, never taking her eyes off of TK. She took TK's hand in her own and squeezed it, when nothing happened, Kari knew it was real. TK simply stared at her and smiled, after locking eyes with her, he squeezed her hand back. Kari then flung her arms around TK's neck and let tears fall from her eyes. "It's OK, Kari. Everything will be OK," TK soothed. He held her close and let her cry.

Kari pulled away from TK and looked into his bright blue eyes and whispered, "TK, thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you. You've risked you life for me and I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Kari, there's nothing you need to do. I made a promise to always protect you and I will always keep it. Kari, you mean more to me than anything else in the world. If-if I lost you, I don't know what I would do."

"TK…" Kari didn't need to say anything else; she just continued to cry while he held her. She let all the pain and sadness she was feeling pour out of her body- all the regret and fear, everything, she wanted it all to be washed out of her body. Her whole body began to shake and the tears came harder and harder, she was no longer crying about what had happened recently, but all of the things that she had kept bottled up inside for the past six years.

TK never moved, he just sat there and let Kari cry, he knew she needed this and he wasn't going to take this from her, not after she had lost so much. "TK…" Kari choked after crying for at least ten minutes. "Where are the others?" TK smiled at her and pointed to the mouth of the cave.

"They went to go do their own thing, gather their thoughts and stuff. I told them about Susan, they weren't too thrilled about it. Tai's the angriest of them all, he thinks it's her fault for what happened to you, I told him it wasn't but he didn't believe me."

"That's Tai for you; he needs some sort of target. We might as well explain the situation when he gets back, I'm sure he'll listen to you." TK nodded but didn't say anything; he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts again. "TK, are you all right."

"What? Oh sorry, Kari… I was just thinking", TK said softly.

"About what?" Kari looked at him with curiosity plastered across her face.

"Just about everything that's happened, what we should do next. Who's behind this, and why they're after you… Kari, I'm just worried about you. We almost lost you before; I don't think any of us could handle it if…" TK would have continued if Kari didn't put a finger up to his lips to silence him.

"You talk too much…" Kari whispered. She then did something that she had wanted to do for many years. She leaned in close to him and put her forehead against his and kissed him. TK jumped, but didn't pull away. He returned the kiss and it lasted for several seconds, when Kari finally ended the kiss, her face was as red as her crimson eyes. "TK, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. That was so unlike me…" Kari was interrupted by another kiss by TK.

"Now who's talking too much?" TK asked pulling away ever so slightly. Their kiss was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Kari and TK snapped around to see Sora and Biomon standing there, an approving smile spread on Sora's face. Both TK and Kari turned several shades of pink and red.

"Kari, I'm glad to see you're awake", Sora said, the smile never leaving her face. Kari nodded slowly and Sora walked over to them and sat down. Biomon nestled herself next to the fire and shut her eyes, obviously exhausted.

"Did you find Susan?" TK asked, breaking the silence. Sora shook her head and looked down at the ground. "She has to be out there somewhere."

"TK, we've looked everywhere. She's not anywhere on the island and there's no way she could have made across the ocean by herself", Sora said glumly. Her smiled had vanished and the stress she was feeling was showing in her eyes.

"She's not in the Digital World", Kari whispered. TK and Sora looked over at Kari, who was staring into space. "If we want to find Susan and bring her back, we have to go back to the Dark Ocean." Sora looked at Kari like she was crazy and TK leapt to his feet.

"Kari, you can't be serious. Every time you go there, you almost get taken by the darkness. There's no way I'm going to let you put yourself into that kind of danger", TK yelled. His face was full of rage, his eyes burning and fists clenched in anger. He looked at Kari and his eyes became locked in hers, the sight of her eyes, so sad and frightened, made TK's heart melt.

"TK, I know it's dangerous, but it's the only way to save Susan. We have to, she's my friend. I can't let her get taken by the darkness. Please TK, I need you. I know I can't do this alone but if you're with me, then I think I might be able to help her. Without Gatomon, I'm not as strong, I can't do this without you TK", Kari pleaded. In her eyes, Kari could feel tears begin to form again, threatening to spill out all over her already tear stained face.

TK stood there for a moment, wondering what to say next, but he knew that no words would be able to get him out of this. He sat down next to Kari and whispered, "I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth if I have to, Kari. I won't leave you to do this alone."

Kari looked at him, her eyes full of tears and smiled. "The question is what do we do about Tai? He'll never let us go back there. Even if he did, I don't know how to get there, every time I've been there it's been by accident."

"I'm sure you both will figure something out, one little problem has never stopped you before", Biomon said happily. She had been listening to the entire conversation and finally decided to join in.

"But, it's more than one little problem. We have lots of problems- we have no idea how to get there, where to go when we do make it, how we'll get home and most importantly, we're missing one very important member of our team", Kari said looking back down at the ground. She wished Gatomon was there, her energy and unfaltering faith would give Kari the strength to keep going, but she wasn't there and Kari felt like a giant weight had been added to her shoulders.

"Humph, remind me of the battle against Pidemon. Things seemed this hopeless back then and we managed to pull through back then. Come one, Kari, why don't we try to think of a plan to get Susan back while we wait for the others", TK suggested. He got to his feet and held a hand out for Kari. He lifted her up and smiled.

"All right. Sora, we'll be back soon. If Tai comes back, tell him not to worry. We won't be very far", Kari said to her red-haired friend.

"No worries, just be careful out there", Sora said giving a small wave. Patamon had woken up when Sora had come back and flew over to sit on TK's head. As Kari and TK walked away, Sora smiled to herself. She had known for many years that it was only a matter of time before those two stopped being blind to how they felt about each other. The only thing she was worried about was how Tai would take it.


	21. Destiny

Part 21: Destiny

Kari and TK walked through the dense forest, talking about what they might do when they found Susan. With Crescemon, Susan was powerful. It had taken pure luck to last long enough the past time. "The Digimon aren't strong enough to fight her alone. If they want a chance, they have to Digivolve to the ultimate level," TK said as they walked under the shade of the trees.

"But, can they do that in the Dark Ocean? The first time I went there, Gatomon was only able to Digivolve because of the positive energy released when you knocked down the control spire", Kari argued. She grew quite when she thought about Gatomon but shook the sadness off. Now was not the time to be wallowing in self pity.

"Then how was Lunamon able to Digivolve to the ultimate?" Patamon asked. He had been sitting quietly on top of TK's head, listening to their conversation.

"Her crest, Susan had found her crest", Kari said snapping her fingers. She remembered seeing the purple crest hanging around her neck. "But there was something wrong with it, it didn't glow right. Did you see it TK? It had turned black with Lunamon Digivolved to her ultimate level."

"I know I've seen that somewhere before, a crest turning black. But, I can't remember. I wish I could, it might help us stop Crescemon."

Kari took his hand hers and gave it a squeeze. "Don't feel bad, TK. We'll think of something, we have to. There are so many people counting on us, Digimon as well. We can't let them down, I'm not going to give up until we get Susan back, then we'll all go home together."

TK smiled weakly at her, as he did, he stopped walking suddenly. He glanced around him and his searching eyes stopped on a thick grove of trees. Kari looked over at the same grove, but didn't see anything. "TK, what is it?" she asked softly. TK put a finger to his lips, silencing her and stepped forward.

"Something's here, I heard whispering. It might be another Digimon", TK said softly. He could have sworn he heard Kari whimper behind him, but she didn't say anything. He took his eyes off of the grove for a second to look back at Kari and when he did, there was a rustle in the leaves and a large Digimon sprung out of the trees.

"TK!" Kari yelled. TK spun around and managed to get a glimpse of his attacker before he was knocked to the ground. Kari almost screamed, but she saw who the Digimon was. "Liamon?" Kari asked. "Liamon stop! It's us!" The lion Digimon stopped growling and looked down at his prey. TK was staring at his attacker, his whole body shaking in fear. Patamon had been knocked clear off of his head and was stuck in a bush not far away.

"Liamon, what was it?" Kari heard Scott yell through the trees. Scott came to the edge of the grove and stopped dead in his tracks. "Kari, you're awake! That's great, how are you?" Scott asked. He ran out of the trees and over to Kari.

"Um, Scott, can you call off your Digimon for me? He's crushing me", TK choked. Liamon looked startled and backed off of TK. Kari wan over to him and helped him to his feet. "Well, that wasn't fun. What were you doing, Scott?"

"We were walking through the forest looking for Susan and Liollmon said he heard something, I thought it might be an evil Digimon so I had him Digivolve. Sorry for attacking you dude. It was totally my fault", Scott apologized.

"Can someone please get me out of here?" Patamon yelled. Everyone glanced over to see Patamon still struggling to get out of the bush. His tiny back legs were flailing around and it appeared like one of wings was stuck between two of the branches.

TK laughed and went to pull his friend from his green prison. It turned out Patamon was a lot more stuck than he thought and TK was trying with all his might to free him. Kari and Scott watched with wonder as TK attempted to free Patamon but the little flying pig was stuck tight. "What are you doing out here anyway, Kari? It's dangerous out here, I ran into Ken a while ago and he said he thought he saw a strange black Digimon weaving through the trees", Scott said with concern lining his voice.

It took all of Kari's will power to not roll her eyes at him. This was just like Scott, thinking she couldn't handle herself. He had done the same thing back in California. He was worse than Tai sometimes. "I know you're worried about me, Scott. But, I need you to trust me, I know how to take care of myself, I've been to the Digi World many times and I've been a lot more dangerous situations than this. You should focus your energy on taking care of yourself, you haven't seen half of what is in this world and you need to be prepared", Kari said with as much kindness in her voice as she could muster. She didn't want to be mean to Scott, he was one of her friends, but he could be infuriating sometimes.

"Don't worry, Scott, we've got things covered. Why don't you go back to the cave and get some rest? You've been out all day; you look like you could so with a good rest. We can take care of things for a while", TK said as he walked up. He had managed to pull Patamon from the bush and he was now happily sitting on his head. Scott glared at TK; he didn't think he needed someone telling him what to do.

"No, I'm fine. I'm going to go look for Susan some more", Scott snapped. TK stared back at Scott, confused at his sudden outburst. "Oh and by the way, TK, you said you had things covered right? If you were taking care of things, then why did you let Kari get hurt?" Scott's voice was full of venom. TK was completely taken aback by Scott's remark. It was a personal attack, Scott was mad at TK and wasn't afraid to show it."

"Scott, what was that for?" Kari asked in surprise. She had never seen Scott so angry at someone before. He was always hot tempered, but he never directed personal attacks at anyone before.

"Kari, you amaze me sometimes. How can you still talk to him, after he let you get hurt like that? You could have been killed by Mephistomon." Scott's words hung like ice over Kari's head. She knew in her heart that what he said wasn't true; TK had done everything in his power to protect her. He had saved her life, and here was Scott saying it was TK's fault.

"Scott, may I talk to you for a minute?" Kari asked. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Scott's wrist and led him away from TK. She walked for about 100 meters before stopping. "What is your problem?" she snapped. Scott looked into her eyes, Kari saw something there, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Scott was one of the few people Kari couldn't figure out by looking at them. He was so complex and the minute she thought she had him figured out, he completely changed.

"Kari, I'm going to be honest with you. What do you see in him?" Scott asked pointing back to TK. TK wasn't paying attention; he was busy trying to get the branches detangled from Patamon's ears. "Every time you spend time with him, you almost get killed. So tell me what you see in him", Scott demanded.

Kari stared at Scott in disbelief. She couldn't believe he was asking her this. She didn't know what to say to him without hurting his feelings. "Scott, I can't understand what's compelled you to act like this but I'm going to be honest with you as well. TK means more to me than anything in the world; I wouldn't be half as strong if it wasn't for him. In fact, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for TK. He's risked his life for me more times than I can count. He's my best friend in the entire world, he knows me better than anyone.

"I know you, Kari. I thought we were like best friends, we've been friends since the day you came to America", Scott argued. Kari was getting frustrated, Scott wasn't listening to her. She knew that the only way to get through to him was to tell him point blank, no matter how much it might hurt.

"Scott, you don't know me at all. Most of my life is an entire mystery to you, this world for example. If we hadn't been called back here, I would never have told you about it. You don't know me at all. And also, don't think I haven't noticed this big brother complex of yours. You act worse than Tai sometimes; I don't need to be protected by everyone all the time. That's one of the reasons I get along with TK so well, he gives me space when I need it. Scott, you follow me around closer than a shadow. So back off a little bit," Kari said irritably.

Scott looked appalled. He stammered, "Kari, I'm sorry. It's just, from the moment I met you, and you've reminded me of someone I care about a lot." Kari didn't look at him; she turned around so she wouldn't have to see his face when she broke his heart.

"Scott, I'm sorry. I know all you want to do is protect me, but I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," Kari looked back at TK; he had gotten the branches out of Patamon's ears and was sitting patiently with Patamon and Liollmon. "I hope you aren't mad at me, Scott. You're still my friend," Kari began to walk away, leaving Scott standing there with his mouth wide open.

Kari wiped a tear away as she reached TK. She knew that she would have to someday tell him the truth, but she hadn't wanted it to be this way and she hadn't expected it to hurt this much. "What's wrong, Kari?" TK asked as she reached him. Kari wiped away another tear and looked down at her shoes.

"I feel horrible, I think I just broke his heart," Kari whispered. TK's heart nearly melted when he saw how sad she was. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her shoulders. "I hope he doesn't hate me," Kari whispered softly.

"How could anyone hate you, Kari?" You're the hardest person in the world to hate. How could someone hate a person that doesn't have a mean bone in their body?"

"No mean bones? Then how did I manage to break his heart?" Kari asked, her voice quivering. TK didn't get the chance to answer because there was a sudden shout from where Kari left Scott.

"Scott!" Liollmon yelled. He sprung to life and darted down the path to where his friend was. TK and Kari followed behind, uneasy of what they might find. Scott had wandered away from the path and was standing in a path of trees. No one would have noticed him, if it wasn't for the giant swarm of Digimon in front of him.

"What are those?" TK yelled. The Digimon were fairly large, roughly the size of large dog and they had the appearance of a wasp. They were made of metal and had a laser where their stinger would be. All of the Digimon glared down at Scott with glowing blue eyes.

"TK, those are Waspmon. No one has seen them for years; they are Champion level Digimon made of pure chrome Digizoid. Their Turbo Stinger attack makes getting a shot from a doctor like a little pinch", Patamon said in wonder.

"There are too many to fight, we have to get out of here!" Kari yelled. Scott didn't need to be told twice and he hightailed it out of the grove and tore down the path as fast as his legs could carry him. Kari, TK and Liollmon followed closely behind. To their dismay, so did the Waspmon.

Patamon stopped flying and turned to face the Waspmon. "Boom bubble!" He shot a blast of air that managed to hit the Waspmon in front but there were still several dozen behind that one.

"Patamon, I appreciate your bravery, but now isn't the time", TK yelled. He snatched Patamon out of the sky and continued to run.

"Where are we going?" Scott yelled. He was in front and didn't know where to go.

"Anywhere but here", Kari huffed behind him. She hoped that eventually the Waspmon would get tired of chasing them and return to wherever they had come from. Then, she saw what might save them, a lake was coming into view through the trees and if these Digimon were anything like real wasps, they wouldn't chase them into the water. "I have an idea, jump into the water", Kari yelled as they neared the edge of the lake. Scott followed her instructions and jumped feet first into the large body of water. He was followed by Liollmon. Kari stopped to make sure TK and Patamon were still coming; her heart skipped a beat when she didn't see them come through the trees.

"Kari, go!" TK yelled as he finally broke through the trees. He was carrying Patamon under his arm and his eyes were wide with fear. Right behind him were all the Waspmon.

"Turbo Stinger!" the swarm called out in unison. From their stingers, a red light began to glow and they shot out a laser blast at the spot where TK was running. At the last moment, TK dove forward jumping into the water, taking Kari with him. The sudden shock of cold water made Kari freeze up for a second. On the surface, Kari could see the swarm fly overhead, angry that they had lost their prey. Kari mentally sighed, they were all safe. It was then that Kari realized that she couldn't touch the bottom of the lake. The water was much deeper than she had originally thought and she was struggling to get to the surface.

Kari felt the bubbles of precious air escape from her mouth, she didn't know if she would be able to make it to the top. Then, she felt a pair of arms reach around her stomach and bring her up to the surface. As her head broke through, Kari began to cough violently, taking as much air into her lungs as possible.

The Waspmon had vanished and the air was still, the only sound was the splash of the water as it hit some rocks on the shore. "You OK, Kari?" Kari became aware of someone next to her. TK was floating in the water on her left side, water dripping off of his hair and face. "Well that was refreshing", he said with a grin on his face. Kari looked at TK and then began to laugh; he looked ridiculous with his hair plastered to his face and that huge grin on his face. When he fell in the water, his hat had fallen off and his golden hair gleamed in the sunlight.

"I hate being wet", Patamon muttered. He had swum up to the surface and was not struggling to keep his head above the surface. TK laughed and lifted Patamon out of the water, wetting him on his head where he would be dry. TK and Kari made their way over to the shore, stumbling and laughing all the way. Kari came so close to falling over, TK had to catch her and hold her up as they reached the shore. When their feet hit solid ground, they collapsed onto the soft grass looking up at the sky.

"Where did Scott go?" Kari asked sitting up. She had seen him go into the water, but never saw him come out. TK sat up as well and looked around the edge of the lake.

"I'm not sure, we better find him though, before he gets himself into more trouble. Come on." TK lifted Kari to her feet and they began to walk around the perimeter of the lake.

The lake was a lot larger than either of them expected, after walking for a half hour, they had barely moved from where they had started. The whole way Kari and TK yelled out Scott's name but got in response. "Oh this is my fault", Kari said suddenly. TK stopped walking and looked at her.

"How do you figure that?" TK asked.

"If I hadn't told Scott the things I did, he wouldn't have been left out there alone, then he wouldn't have gotten attacked by the Waspmon and we wouldn't have jumped into the lake and he would be here with us." TK smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kari, don't blame yourself for that. Something tells me that Scott would have gotten attacked by a forest Digimon on his own. You did us all a favor by suggesting hiding in the lake. We would have been a Digimon's lunch if you hadn't", TK sympathized.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? Kari? TK? Hello?" a voice from the trees called. As the voice called out, Scott stepped out from the trees. He was a dripping wet as Kari and TK but a huge smile on his face. Liollmon followed close behind him, looking wet and miserable. "There you two are. I've been looking everywhere for you. You guys have to come see this, it's amazing." Scott said like a little child. He spun around and walked back into the trees. TK looked over at Kari who shrugged. The followed Scott into the dense woods and worked hard to keep up with him. After waking for a little ways, Scott stopped in front of a large rock.

"What is this?" Kari asked looking up at the stone wall. Most of it looked normal, a big rock, it wasn't much of a surprise since they were so close to a mountain. The strange symbol engraved into it was something out of the ordinary. It was three interloping circles with a star right in the middle of it. "I've never seen this symbol before. What do you think it is, TK?"

"I'm not sure, Kari. But I've seen something similar to it. Back when I found my crest, it was a large stone slab like this one. Maybe this is another crest." Almost as if something was answering him, Scott's digivice began to react. Scott ripped his digivice out of his pocket and stared at it. The screen began to glow and as it did, there was a flash of orange light. Scott shut his eyes as the light intensified, the wall before them began to shrink. Soon the light faded and the light was completely gone. Instead, there was a path that led through the forest as if the rock had never been there.

"What's this thing?" Scott asked. In his hand was a small tablet, no bigger than a postage stamp. It had the same symbol engraved in it as the rock wall had.

"He got his crest!" Kari said happily. "Now Liollmon will be able to Digivolve to his ultimate level, the question is which crest it is?"

"The crest of destiny," A deep voice said from behind them.


	22. Fire

**Hello digimon fans everywhere! Here is part 22 of Sinking into darkness. knowing that there are people out there that like this story is what's keeping me from giving up on it. As long as people continue to read it- I'll continue to post. And as usual, I don't own Digimon. If I did well, many things would be different after season 2 ended. I would make sometimes similar to this story be season three. Since all the characters return here. Enjoy and pretty please review!**

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Part 22: Fire

"The boy has found the crest of destiny," the voice said again. Everyone spun around in an instant, standing behind them was a large lion Digimon that stood on two legs. He stood proudly, a sword clenched in his massive paw. "It has been a long time, my old friends."

"Leomon, long time no see!" TK said happily. He hadn't seen the lion Digimon since they left File Island to fight Etemon; he remembered Mimi and Joe telling them how he had been destroyed after he tried to save Mimi. "How have you been, Leomon?"

"Very well, I heard the Digidestined had returned to the Digital World and I had to come and see for myself. I see that you have made some new friends since our last encounter."

"Hi there, Leomon. I've heard a lot about from my friends Mimi and Joe. They told us what you did for them 9 years ago," Kari said giving Leomon a small wave. Leomon smiled and walked over to Kari. Placing one of his giant paws on her head he breathed deeply.

"Digidestined of light, I have waited a long time you meet you. You, my dear, have a long battle ahead of you. I wish you the best of luck in your journey." Leomon took his paw off of Kari's head and stepped in front of Scott. "You're heart is troubled, young human. Yet I know that you will do great things for this world. You must rely in all of your friends if you want to succeed for all of your destinies are intertwined. Your decisions affect your friends, just as theirs affect you and you are the one who must hold those destines in your heart." Leomon stopped talking and looked down at Liollmon. He crouched down to eye level with the cub and made some sort of strange growling sound, Liollmon's eyes opened wide and he nodded vigorously.

"Leomon, you should come back with us to the camp, I'm sure Tai and the others will be thrilled to see you again," Patamon said with a smile on his face. The lion smiled but shook his head no.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to come with you right now, my young friends. I have some urgent matters I must attend to, but I will cone and find you as soon as I can. It is time for me to go for now, I will see you all very soon," Leomon began to walk away the way he had come and he soon vanished into the cover of the trees.

"Wow, he was cool," Scott said in amazement. Liollmon looked at the spot where Leomon faded with adoration. Neither of them had met such an amazing Digimon in their entire lives. "How do you know him, TK?"

"Nine years ago, when we original Digidestined were here, Leomon helped us defeat an evil Digimon. He's a good friend to all of us now," TK explained. Scott was about to reply when Kari gave a small gasp.

"Guys, look at the time! The others are going to be se worried about us, we have to get back now!" she practically yelled, "Tai will panic if we are out here after dark."

"Then we better get going, the sun is about to set. Why don't you e-mail them and say that we're on our way?" Liollmon suggested. Kari nodded and reached into her pocket for her D-tector. Pulling in out, her face fell.

"It's not working, there must be water inside of it," Kari said with a frustrated. She looked over at TK, hoping he would have his.

"Don't look at me, I left mine back at the cave," TK said holding his hands up in defense.

"Prefect, Tai is going to kill me," Kari muttered sitting down on the ground. She knew Tai could get a little crazy sometimes when it came to her safety and her being out in the digital World without a Digimon was not on Tai's list of safe things to do.

"Well, we might as well get walking. We won't get back any faster sitting here," Scott said. He put his new crest in his pocket and started to walk down the path towards the lake. TK lifted Kari up and they followed Scott through the forest. They had been walking through the dense trees for a while and the lake hadn't come into view.

"TK, I think we're lost," Patamon said glumly. He was perched on TK's head looking around at all of the trees. The sun had set some time before and the shadows of night made everything look more sinister.

"Scott, we better stop. We're not getting anywhere walking around like this. We'll just end of a late night snack for some rogue Digimon," Kari told the boy leading them. Scott stopped and turned around to face them. His face seemed to glow in the moonlight; his eyes were wild with fear.

"I still think we should go a little bit farther. How about we go for another thirty minutes? If we don't find the lake then, we can stop," Scott pleaded. Liollmon looked at Scott with wonder, what was making him want to keep going? Kari sighed but nodded her head; there was no point in arguing with Scott. Looking satisfied with himself; he turned around and kept walking down the path with Liollmon at his heels. Kari and TK followed a little ways behind, watching their shadows jump from tree to tree.

As they walked, a strong breeze picked up and Kari shivered. She was still a little wet from jumping in the lake and now the breeze was making her incredibly cold. Trying to keep warm, Kari moved in closer to TK, hoping he was warmer than she was. "Are you cold?" TK asked looking at her.

"A little, but I'll be all right", Kari lied. She actually was freezing but she didn't want to make TK worry. She was glad it was so dark out that TK couldn't see her facial expression. If he had been able to, he would have known she was lying. Five minutes or so passed and they still hadn't found the lake. Scott was still leading the way, he seemed adamant about finding it for all of them. They had wandered into a deeper part of the forest where the trees were taller and the undergrowth was thicker. Kari held onto TK's arm to keep from tripping on the small plants.

"A little bit farther guys, I have a feeling that we'll be there soon," Scott called back to them. Kari shook her head; it was just like a guy to say that they knew where they were going. Tai had done the same thing nine years ago and so had Davis.

Another gust of wind blew and Kari shook violently. Kari then realized that she was still holding onto TK and that he must have felt her shiver. TK stopped and turned to face her. It was hard to see his face but the little bit of moonlight that peaked through the trees made his eyes shine. "I knew it, you're cold aren't you?" he demanded. Kari nodded a tiny bit and Kari saw TK's eyes fill with worry. He put one of his hands on her face and almost instantly took it back, "Kari, your skin is like ice. Why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't want to make you worry", Kari said softly. TK mentally slapped himself, this was just like Kari. He should have known better, she always put the needs of others before herself. That was something he had seen nine years ago when Kari got sick. "I'm sorry, TK. Are you mad at me?"

"I could never be mad at you, Kari. I just wish you would tell me these things. Come on, let's go catch up with Scott and tell him to stop. Then we can get you in front of a fire," TK said pulling her close. As Kari's cold skin came in contact with TK's warm body, a wave of comfort washed over her. TK carefully guided her through the trees, holding her close to him the entire time. "Scott!" TK yelled when the rd haired boy came into sight. "We need to stop; Kari needs to get in front of a fire before she freezes to death." Scott looked at Kari, her skin looked paled than normal in the moonlight. She was shaking violently, even though TK was holding her close to him, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"OK, I guess here works then. Do you want me to go get some firewood?" Scott asked. TK nodded and Scott and Liollmon walked deeper into the woods. TK sat Kari down on the ground and sat close to her, trying to keep her warm.

"Where is he? It doesn't take this long to get wood", TK said impatiently. He looked over at Kari, who was still shivering. TK mentally kicked himself for not reminding her to take a jacket. He sat down on the ground next to her and pulled her closer to him.

"Don't be angry, TK. Scott will be back soon, I'll be fine for a little while longer," Kari said gently. She leaned her head against his shoulder and shut here eyes. They had been walking all day and Kari was exhausted. She felt like she had only closed her eyes for a minute when she felt someone gently shaking her shoulder.

"Kari? Kari, wake up. Scott's back with the firewood," TK said as he gently shook her awake. Kari sleepily opened one of her eyes and was greeted by a surprising orange glow. Not only had Scott come back with the wood, he had managed to start a fire as well. The fire pit was a little ways off from where they were, so that the trees above them wouldn't catch on fire.

"Hit the snooze button one more time please," Kari grumbled. She had been quite comfortable sleeping on TK's shoulder and didn't want to get up.

"Come on, let's get you warmed up," TK said laughing. He picked her up bridal style and carried her over to the warm fire. It was then that TK noticed how bad Kari looked. Her skin was white as a sheet and felt like a giant piece of ice. Her lips had turned purple from the cold and her entire body appeared to be shaking. TK gently set Kari down on the ground as close to the fire as he could without risking her getting burned.

As he set her down, Kari began to cough. They were light shallow coughs and Kari buried her face in her arm until the coughing stopped. "Kari why didn't you say anything to us?" Scott asked from the other side of the fire. He watched as his friend stopped coughing, but continued to shiver.

"I-I didn't want to slow us down. I figured I could warm up when we reached the others. Plus, I knew we had to get back or else Tai would be worried," Kari said through chattering teeth.

"Kari, remember what happened the last time you didn't tell us you weren't feeling well? You collapsed and were really sick. I don't want that to happened to you again, I was terrified then and I still am now," TK told her. He shuddered when he remembered how small and helpless Kari looked when she got sick six years ago. He had been afraid that he was going to lose her. TK had sworn to himself back then that if something like that ever happened to Kari again, he would help her to feel well again.

"TK, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I know I worried you back then, I'm sorry if-"Kari didn't get to finish her sentence when she started coughing again. TK placed an arm around Kari's shoulder as she coughed, trying to get her to calm down. After a while, Kari stopped coughing and leaned against TK's shoulder. Her labored breathing told TK that she had fallen asleep.

"Scott," TK said turning to the boy across from him. "There is something else going on with Kari. I know when she's keeping things from me and I know that she isn't telling us the whole truth. We have to get her back to the others. Joe will have exactly what we need. Do you think you can lead the way?"

"I don't know, after all, look at where we are now. I have no clue where the lake is, I can try to find it but we only have so much time. Kari can't be away from the fire for very long, not with the way she feels", the red haired boy replied. "But, I can try. We'll find them eventually, we can't give up." TK smiled at Scott's sudden enthusiasm. He would need it in the battles to come.

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**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**


	23. Attacked

**Gomen! It's been a while since I've updated so I'm going to post a couple chapters up tonight. Hope you all like the next few parts of Sinking into Darkness. **

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Part 23: Attacked

"So what are we going to do now, TK?" Patamon asked. He saw at TK's feet and looked up at him with worry. He knew all too well that TK could get a little overprotective when it came to Kari and he was worried that he might do something stupid.

"There's not a lot we can do, Patamon. We can either sit out here until the sun comes up or go look for the others now", TK told his friend.

"I have an idea, why don't I go look for where the others are. That way, you can stay here with Kari and won't have to worry about her getting any worse", Patamon said cheerfully.

"You know, that's not a bad idea", Liollmon remarked. "I'll stay here and protect the kids until you get back, Patamon." Patamon gave a small nod and flew off through the trees.

"You think he'll be able to find the others in time?" Scott asked. He looked over at Kari, who was still sleeping soundly on TK's shoulder. Her skin was still pale but she looked better than she had. Scott threw another long onto the fire and watched as the flame consumed it with rapid speed.

"I know he will. Patamon won't stop until he finds the others. He knows how serious this is, I trust him", TK said, not taking his eyes off of the fire. A light breeze picked up and TK pulled Kari in closer to him to keep her from getting cold.

Twenty minutes passed and there was no sign from Patamon or any of the others and TK was getting worried. He knew Kari couldn't be in the cold much longer but until Patamon came back with help, there was nothing he could do. "TK! Kari! Scott! Where are you guys?" a familiar voice called out through the darkness.

"Tai, is that you? We're over here!" Scott screamed back into the darkness. There was no response, but soon a flash or white and blue streaked through the trees and into the tiny clearing where they were sitting.

"Garurumon, Matt, Tai, are we ever glad to see you", TK called, allowing the relief to flood out of him. Tai jumped off of Garurumon's back and ran to where TK and Kari were sitting. TK gently shook Kari awake and let her sit up. "Kari, the others are here. Everything is going to be OK now", TK told her gently.

Kari rubbed her eyes and looked at her brother. "Tai?" she whispered, "When did you get here?" Kari yawned and stretched. She had never felt so cold and stiff before in her life. The very last thing she remembered was being carried to somewhere warm and then falling asleep.

"It'll be OK, Kari. You're safe now", Tai soothed. He carefully picked up his little sister and carried her over to Garurumon. Sitting on his massive back was Matt and Patamon. As soon as he saw TK, Patamon flew over to him in an instant.

He cried, "TK!" and sat on his head. "I'm sorry I took so long, TK, but I almost got lost", he apologized. TK smiled and patted Patamon on his head.

Matt looked down at his brother, a mildly irritated look on his face. "Hey, TK, I have a present for you. Catch." Matt tossed TK something he had in his hand; it was his D-terminal.

"Thanks, Matt. And Patamon, don't worry about it, pal. You did great", TK told his partner. "Let's just get going, I'm tired of this forest. You ready to Armor Digivolve?" Patamon nodded and TK pulled out his digivice. "Digi Armor Energize!"

A golden light filled the darkness and when it faded, Pegusasmon was standing in the place of Patamon. "Let's hurry and get back, I'm sure all of you kids are freezing by now", Pegusasmon said in a serious voice. Scott jumped up from the fire, followed by Liollmon. TK was just about to climb on Pegusasmon's back, when a deep grumble filled the still forest.

"Guys, not to sound cliché or anything, but I don't think we're out of the woods yet", Scott whimpered. Liollmon turned towards a dark patch in the trees and snarled. Matt jumped off of Garurumon and stood next to Tai.

"Knowing our luck, it'll be some giant evil Digimon bent on destroying us," Liollmon growled, never taking his eyes off of the trees.

Tai looked down at Kari, asleep in his arms and then back at the trees where another unknown danger was waiting for them. "TK", Tai said softly. "Can you and Pegusasmon take Kari back to the others? It's too dangerous out here and I don't want to risk her getting sick or hurt out here." TK nodded and took Kari from Tai's arms. He wanted to stay and help the others fight, but he knew Kari's safety was much more important.

"Don't worry, Tai. I'll get her back safely and then I'll come back and help you guys. Pegusasmon, let's get out of here." Pegusasmon kneeled down on the ground so TK could set Kari on his back. He then climbed up and sat behind Kari, keeping an arm around her so she wouldn't fall off. "I'll be back soon, try not to have too much fun while I'm gone", TK said with a laugh. Matt gave him a big grin and Pegusasmon took off through the trees.

"He's kidding, right? I haven't found any of these attacks by evil Digimon very fun", Scott asked. Matt laughed and placed a hand on the younger boys shoulder.

"Don't worry, dude. Give it some time and soon you won't care about being attacked. I'm guessing it's some forest Digimon that's too big for its britches and thinks it needs to show how tough it is. Hey Tai, I'll bet you twenty bucks it's a Snimon", Matt said, turning to his friend.

"I'll take you up on that, my money's on a Kuwagamon", Tai agreed. He shook hands with Matt and Scott looked at both of them like they had lost their minds. Another snarl from the trees brought everyone's attention to the unknown Digimon in the trees. The leaves began to rustle and a sudden flash of pink and grey shot out of the trees.

The Digimon that stood before them was one that none of the others had ever seen before. It looked a lot like a weasel, but it was pink in color and had long steel grey hair. Instead of hands, it had sharp scythes and several sword-like points came out of its shoulders and feet. "What is that?" Scott asked in amazement. He didn't know that a Digimon could look so fierce. All of the evil Digimon he had come across had an evil glare in their eyes, but this one simply looked like he wanted to destroy everything in its path.

"Where is my target?" the strange Digimon asked in a raspy voice. He sniffed the air and looked at each of the Digidestined. "None of you are my target," he said with a growl.

"If you're after my sister, you'll have to go through all of us," Tai yelled. "Who are you anyway? And who sent you to attack my sister?"

The pink Digimon turned to Tai and pointed a long arm in his direction. "Do not question me, human. You are not my target, but I do not have a problem with destroying who wants to get in my way," he sneered. "My name is Kyukimon, my mission is simple. Destroy the one who bears the crest of hope."

Matt looked stunned for a moment before yelling, "The crest of hope? What do you want with my brother?"

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**Please review! I always look forward to feedback on my stories-it helps me fingure out what you guys like to read. **


	24. Danger

**Here comes part 24! Just letting everyone know I don't own anything in this story, except for Scott and Susan. Those two are mine so please keep them that way. Thank you very much adn don't forget to review! :)**

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Part 24: Danger

Pegusasmon flew faster and faster, he rushed past the trees in a blur. "We're almost there, TK. The cave is not very far from here", Pegusasmon said as he weaved through the dense woods.

"That's good. Hold on Kari, we're almost home free", TK whispered to Kari. She still didn't have much energy, and TK could tell she was getting worse. For a while she had been able to sit up while TK held onto her but now she was leaning back. She didn't have the strength to sit up anymore. TK was worried that there was something really wrong with her.

"TK", Kari whispered softly. "Will the others be OK? You shouldn't have left. Now it's just Garurumon and Liollmon fighting. You should have stayed.

"Don't worry, Kari. They'll be OK, remember how strong they are? Besides, I'm going back to help them soon. I just have to make sure you're OK first", TK told her. He tightened his grip around her stomach and hoped that he was right. If it was a strong Digimon, like Crescemon, then the others were in trouble.

"The cave, I see it!" Pegusasmon called in joy. TK snapped his head forward and saw the faint glow that came from the fire in the cave. Pegusasmon flew even faster and TK could make out the shapes of Sora and Izzy at the front of the cave.

"Sora, Izzy, we're back!" TK yelled at the top of his lungs. When they heard his voice, Sora and Izzy turned to face him and their faces lit up with relief. Pegusasmon began to slow down and by the time he came to a stop, they were by his side.

"TK, what happened? Where are the others? What's wrong with Kari?" Izzy demanded as Sora helped Kari off of Pegusasmon.

"I'll tell you later, where's Joe?" TK asked frantically.

"He's not here; he went out with Mimi and Yolei to go look for you guys about an hour ago.

TK ran a hand through his blond hair and sighed. "The others are in trouble, I have to go back and help them. Take care of Kari until I get back," TK said. He was just about to climb on Pegusasmon when Sora reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You're not going anywhere. You've been out all day, you need to rest. I'll go and help the guys, you stay here. If you even think of moving from this cave, I'll tell Tai and Matt about the you-know-what", Sora whispered. She looked down at Kari and then at TK again and a look a fear shot through TK's face.

"All right, they're south of here, about fifteen minutes if you fly fast", TK said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. The last thing he wanted was for Tai and Matt to find out about the kiss. Matt would never let him live it down and Tai would murder him.

Sora smiled triumphantly. She looked back into the cave and called, "Biomon, we've got work to do. Come on, the guys need our help!" Seconds later, Biomon appeared in the mouth of the cave, looking confused but excited.

"Then let's get going, Sora", she said in her always cheerful voice. Sora held her Digivice and Biomon Digivolved to Birdramon. Sora let TK grab hold of Kari and jumped onto her large foot and in a few small flaps; Birdramon took off into the sky.

"We'll be back soon, don't worry about a thing!" Sora called as they flew away. TK and Izzy watched as Sora vanished into the darkness. Finally, Izzy dared to speak.

"What's the you-know-what?" he asked in confusion. TK's face turned beat red and he looked away from Izzy.

"Nothing, just a little secret between me and Sora", TK muttered. He wasn't willing to tell Izzy about the kiss either, secrets don't stay secrets for very long among the Digidestined and enough people knew already. TK knew he could trust Sora, but he didn't want anyone else to know. Izzy said nothing and went back inside the cave. TK took one last look towards where Sora flew off and then carried Kari back inside the cave.

The second he stepped inside the large cave, TK was bombarded by nine different voices talking to him at once. All the Digidestined and Digimon waiting for them to return were now on their feet and about ten inches from TK's face. "Wait just a minute!" TK yelled. Everyone backed away and TK sighed. "Thank you, I'll tell you guys what happened in a minute."

It was then that Cody noticed that something was wrong with Kari. "TK, what happened to Kari? Is she all right?" Once again, a clamor of voices began talking at once about, all asking about what had happened to Kari. Of all of the voices, Davis' was the loudest.

"What happened? Why didn't you let us know that something was wrong with Kari? I knew that not going after you two was a bad idea", Davis screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Are you done yet?" TK asked when Davis had finished screaming. When Davis didn't respond, TK walked past the others and set Kari on the ground next to the fire. She looked so pale and helpless, TK hated to see her like this. An image flashed in his mind of the last time Kari looked like this. It had been nine years ago, after Machinedramon destroyed the city they were in. While he was waiting with Gatomon for Kari to wake up from her fever, TK had hated waiting like that, he hadn't known if Kari was going to be OK.

"TK? Are you going to tell us what happened?" Cody asked softly. TK looked up at his younger friend and nodded.

"It's a long story, but I think I can sum it up pretty well. "When Kari woke up we decided to go out and try to think of a plan for finding Susan. After a while, we hadn't come up with anything and then, out of the blue Scott shows up. He was in a bad mood about something and we sort of got into an argument. Kari took him aside and tried to calm him down; when she came back she was upset because she had to say some things to Scott that might have hurt his feelings. About thirty seconds later, we hear Scott yell and in that short time period he had managed to make a swarm of Waspmon very angry at him.

"They chased us through the woods for a little while and then Kari saw a lake and we all jumped into it. When the Waspmon left, we got out and realized that Scott was missing. We finally found him and while we were looking for him, he had found something pretty extraordinary. He took us deep into the woods and led us to a large stone wall that had a strange carving in it.

"Scott's digivice then began to react and the wall glowed orange. Turns out, there are some Crests we haven't found yet."

"Prodigious! Scott found a Crest? That mean Liollmon can Digivolve to his ultimate level," Izzy exclaimed. TK nodded in agreement and continued with his story.

"Scott's crest wasn't the only thing we found in those woods. An old friend of ours made an appearance. It was Leomon…"

"Leomon!" Izzy and Tentomon exclaimed. The newer kids didn't know how important Leomon was to all of them so they just stared at Izzy when he made his sudden outburst.

"Yeah, Patamon and I were pretty surprised ourselves. He said that he would come over here soon and see all of us. But, he soon left and we all realized that we had to get going. It was then that Kari started acting strange. I could tell she wasn't feeling well but she never said anything. Eventually we realized that we were lost and stopped to make a fire, but Kari kept getting worse. Scott and I both knew that the longer Kari was out in the cold, the worse she would be. So, Patamon flew off to try and find the cave and bring back help."

"That's right, he can flying back here at top speed and in between breaths he managed to get out that you guys needed help. I wanted to come with Tai but he said that it would be too much for Garurumon to carry in the forest," Agumon told TK.

"So, where are the others now? And where did Sora go?" Ken asked in a soft, concerned voice.

"I was getting to that, we were about to leave when we heard a low growl coming from the trees. We had no idea what it was and Tai told me to take Kari back here where it was safe. Sora went to go help the others."

"But, when will they be back?" Yolei asked. Yolei didn't have to wait long for an answer, because just then. A loud crash broke the short silence. Everyone jumped and ran outside. The cause of the crash was a sight to behold for everyone. Tai, Matt, Sora and Scott had returned to the cave and somehow all of the Digimon had ended up in some sort of dog pile with Tai, Sora, Matt and Scott looking at their Digimon with surprise on their faces.

On the top of the pile was Birdramon, she had somehow landed right on top of WereGarurumon and another Digimon that the others didn't know. It was a large lion made of pure golden metal, his mane looked like a drill bit and he had a large iron ball on his tail with several sharp spikes ejecting from it. "LoaderLeomon, you have to watch where you're going", WereGarurumon growled. He pushed the large metal Digimon off of him and stood up.

"What happened? Who's that Digimon?" Davis asked. He looked in awe at the shining Digimon in front of him and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"This is LoaderLeomon, Liollmon's ultimate level. He's still getting used to being this size so he messed up the amount of stopping distance he had and crashed into WereGarurumon", Scott explained. He patted LoaderLeomon's side and the lion Digimon grinned.

There was a brief flash of light and LoaderLeomon shrunk down to his in-training form. "Come of Frimon, why don't we get you something to eat?" Scott asked his small Digimon. He walked back inside the cave and most of the others followed. The only remaining Digidestined outside were Tai, Matt, TK and Izzy. Patamon sat on TK's head and Gabumon stood next to Matt.

"So what happened out there? I wanted to come and help, but Sora wouldn't let me", TK complained. He wanted to hear about the Digimon that had attacked them. Neither Tai nor Matt would look at TK and that made him worried. "Guys, you can tell me. What happened?" Tai looked over at Matt and nodded. Matt stepped forward towards TK and sighed.

"TK, there's something you have to hear. Come with me, I don't want everyone hearing this, It'll only worry them", Matt sighed. He pulled TK away from the mouth of the cave and Izzy looked over at Tai for answers.

"The Digimon that attacked us, it was one of the ones that's been after Kari. But, this time, Kari wasn't its target. This Digimon was looking for TK. We weren't able to defeat him; he got away before we could cause any major damage. He'll be back though, I'm sure of that," Tai sighed.

"What? First they're after Kari and now TK? What are these Digimon planning, and why does it involve Kari and TK so much?" Izzy pondered.

"I'm not sure, but Matt is telling TK to be careful. This whole thing is blowing way out of proportion; we have to end this fight now before anyone else gets hurt."


	25. Enemy

And another chapter and if for some reason you've forgotten I don't own Digimon. Even though I wish I did...

Part 25: Enemy

Far, far away from where the Digidestined were staying, another meeting was taking place. The meeting room was a large hall with very little in it. At one end of the long, dark room there was a large throne but nothing else sat in the hall besides that. A Digimon sat on top of the throne and looked down at the other Digimon sitting below him. "What do you mean he got away?" the large Digimon asked. The seven other Digimon below him shuffled uncomfortably as they waited for someone to speak.

"Well, Master, by the time Kyukimon arrived at their location, the child had already escaped. He tried to go after him, but his friends decided to get in his way," one of the Digimon said flatly. They all knew the punishment Kyukimon would receive for failing a simple task. .

"I see, well, since he appears too incompetent to do a simple mission I will have to send another," the Digimon on the throne said in a low voice.

"Master, permission to ask a question?" a third Digimon asked. The Master gave a small wave and the Digimon continued. "Sir, why are we changing targets to the child of hope? I thought it was the child of light we were after," he asked tenderly.

"Weren't you listening before, Beelezmon?" another Digimon hissed. "Our plan is still to capture the child of light but before we can do that, we must put out that annoying radiance or hers. Destroying her Digimon was not enough; there is something else that allows her light to continue to shine. As I'm sure you well know; the light that protects the Digital World is hope. If we remove the hope from the child of light, then her light will fade and she will sink into the darkness enough got us to gain complete control of her."

"Well explained, Leviamon," the Digimon on the throne praised. The lizard Digimon nodded and Beelezmon looked over at him in disgust. "The primary goal is to put out the light of the Digidestined, taking away her partner was not enough, so now we must move onto the next thing that keeps her light burning."

"Sir, why not destroy the whole lot of them then? That'll make her like putty in our hands", a female Digimon asked curtly.

"Where's the fun in that, Lilithmon? Don't you want to torture the poor girl until she breaks? Destroying them all now would take all the fun excitement out of watching her suffer," an old raspy voice responded. "I say we draw out her torture as long as possible, that way the darkness in her heart will be even stronger." There was a mummer among the Digimon as they pondered the options they had of completing their plans.

"Master, allow me to finish off the Digidestined of hope, their encounter with Kyukimon has left them weakened and now is the optimum time to strike. They will not stand a chance against my power and I think now is the time for them to understand who their enemy truly is," an enormous Digimon said from the back of the hall. The Digimon on the throne nodded.

"Yes, I think now is the perfect opportunity. Why don't you take our young human friend with you? I'm sure she wants to see her friends again. Go now and do not return until the child of hope is gone. The rest of you are dismissed." One by one the seven other Digimon in the room vanished through doorways of darkness. The Master was left sitting alone on his throne. He fiddled with a string of beads that hung around his neck and smiled to himself. "Watch yourself, Child of Light; you may have escaped me the last time I summoned you to my world. But, as my Sucbamon promised, you have not seen the last of me. Your power will be mine and then I will be the ruler of all the worlds," he said with a maniacal laugh.

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"This is getting out of control. What are we supposed to do? Wait for the enemy to find us? We can't wait around in this cave forever…" TK yelled in frustration. He was pacing back and forth across the cave, running his hand through his hair. Patamon sat on a boulder and watched him walk back and forth.

"TK, you have to stay calm. We'll think of something, we always have before," Patamon reassured. He flew over to TK and sat on the ground in front of him. "Now please stop pacing, you're wearing tracks in the ground." TK laughed and picked Patamon up.

"Sorry, pal. I guess I'm just a little frustrated, I feel useless sitting in this cave while the others are out looking for any other evil Digimon."

"TK, there's nothing we can do, so you might as well relax. Come on, sit down for a little bit. You've been pacing like that for twenty minutes," Kari said from the ground. She had woken up a few hours before and felt a lot better. According to Joe, she was over worked and the cold water and wind had given her a mild cold.

Now TK, Kari and Scott were stuck in the cave while the others went out to look for evil Digimon. Tai and Matt both agreed that letting TK and Kari go out with all the Digimon targeting for them would be a bad idea and Scott didn't have enough experience to be wandering out in the Digital World alone.

Scott didn't like being in the cave so he walked out of the cave and was sitting in the fresh air. Liollmon was sitting with him, looking out into the woods. Scott was still a little shaken up from his encounter with Kyukimon the night before and jumped whenever he heard a sound come from the trees. "He's got a lot to learn," TK muttered. He sat down next to Kari and put his face in his hands, he had never felt so anxious in his life and it was killing him.

"We weren't much different out first time either, give him some time. He's handling it a lot better than Davis or Yolei did," Kari giggled. She put a hand on TK's shoulder and he looked over at her and smiled. Kari loved the sight of TK's smile; it brightened her day like nothing else ever could. She knew TK was frustrated and it hurt her to see him this upset. Kari did the only thing that she thought would calm him down. She scooted closer to TK and out her head on his shoulder. "TK, you're going to end up driving yourself to the ground if you don't calm down. Please relax, for me?" she murmured. She felt TK's muscles relax and he sighed.

"Kari, we can't just sit here and you know it. These Digimon are after us, just us and its putting the others in danger," TK said tensing up again. Kari lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, concern and fear lining her face.

"So, what do you think we should do? We can't put the others in danger; they have nothing to do with this. If anything happened to them, I don't know what I'd do…" Kari's voice trailed off, her mind lost to her worst nightmares.

"If we want to keep the others safe, we can't stay here. I say we go find these evil Digimon on our own and find out what they want."

"I guess we don't have any other options do we? If we're going to leave, we have to go now, before the others get back, Tai will be furious but he'll understand someday." Kari stood up slowly, she still didn't have her strength back and it took a lot of energy for her to move. TK stood up next to her and took her hand in his.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Kari? I can't promise you that we'll find what we want, but we have a better chance of finding it out there instead of in this cave," TK asked, his eyes dancing with concern. Kari nodded and squeezed his hand.

"As long as you're with me, I have the strength to do anything. Let's just hope the others can forgive us for leaving like this."

"Well let's go. Patamon, are you ready?" TK asked. Patamon had returned to the boulder and was watching TK and Kari make their plans.

"Yep, let's go." Patamon flew off of the boulder and headed out of the cave. Kari and TK followed close behind. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Scott standing right in front of them, looking angry.

"I'm not deaf you know," he muttered. He crossed his arms and glared at them. "So the two of you were planning on taking off? Just like that? What would the others say?" Kari looked down at her shoes, she knew Scott too well to think that he would let them leave without him. If they took off without him, he would tell the others and they'd go after them.

"Scott, you have to understand, this is for the good of everyone. You all will be much safer if we just leave now," Kari pleaded. From the corner of her eye, Kari saw TK shift from foot to foot. She knew it meant he was impatient, TK wanted to get going and dealing with Scott was taking up valuable time.

"How do you know what's for the good of everyone? If you two leave, Tai and Matt will blame me and they'll murder me and bury my body in the woods. I can't let you guys leave, don't make me do something I'll regret," Scott asked. He reached into his pocket and felt his Digivice; he was willing to fight his friends if it kept them from leaving. Before Scott had the chance to pull out his Digivice, TK began to laugh.

"You can't be serious? Dude, no offence but if you want to try and fight us, don't waste your energy. Patamon has more strength and experience, you don't really stand much of a chance," TK said between bursts of laughter. Scott looked at TK, an annoyed glare in his eyes.

"Well, isn't thins interesting? A squabble among the tight-knit Digidestined, this is quite intriguing. You all are making my job much simpler, I thank you for that," a voice from the trees sneered. Behind where Scott was standing, a Digimon began to materialize; no words could describe the way it looked. Sheer black in color, the Digimon towered over the trees with six daunting wings sprouting from its back. Heavy chains wrapped around its arms and it stared down at the Digidestined with four glowing red eyes.

"Wa-What is that Digimon?" Kari asked fearfully. She had never seen such an evil looking Digimon; darkness seemed to pour from its body. It looked down at Kari, its red eyes glowing and smiled a cold heartless smile. The darkness that came from it was too much for Kari to handle and she screamed in pain.

"Kari!" TK exclaimed. He put an arm around her, to keep her from falling and he glanced up at the Digimon. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Pitiful human, my name is Belphemon. I am here for the Chosen Children of Light and Hope, so why not come along quietly?" the Digimon named Belphemon asked in a harsh voice. He reached one of his gargantuan hands towards TK and Kari and waited. Kari took a step away from the evil Digimon, the closer he got to her, the more pain she felt from his darkness.

"You know what? I'm getting really tired of all these evil Digimon attacking my friends. Ever since I came to this world, it's been nothing but one attack after another. I'm putting an end to this, Liollmon, do your thing!" Scott screamed in frustration. Liollmon sprang up and Digivolved into Liamon. There was another flash of light and Liamon Digivolved again into LoaderLeomon.

"Boring Storm!" LoaderLeomon sprang up towards Belphemon and his mane began to spin like a drill. Belphemon rolled his eyes and swatted LoaderLeomon away like he was a fly. The metal lion crashed to the ground and de-digivolved into Frimon. "Scott, I'm sorry. He's too strong, he's higher than an ultimate," Frimon coughed. Scott ran to Frimon and scooped him up in his arms to keep him from getting hurt.

"Of course I'm stronger than you; I'm a mega level Digimon. You're power comes nowhere close to mine. If I was you, I'd give up now before I crush you like an insect," Belphemon jeered. He looked down at Scott holding an exhausted Frimon and smirked. "Pathetic." Belphemon moved in to strike Scott and Frimon; he was going to destroy both of them.

"Leave them alone!" Kari screamed. She watched in fear as Belphemon's massive arm swung closer and closer to Scott. Hearing Kari's screams, Belphemon stopped and stared at her.

"Why would you want to spare the life of this human? He's nothing more than an insect, something so insignificant to this world," Belphemon asked. He sounded genuinely confused by Kari's outburst.

"That's not true, he's our friend and we won't let you hurt him," TK remarked. Scott had used this small window of freedom to run as fast as his legs could carry him towards TK and Kari. He stood trembling in fear as Belphemon stood up again.

"Belphemon, are you forgetting the mission? The Master will be furious if you don't bring back the Digidestined," a female voice asked. From behind Belphemon's leg, a familiar face appeared. "Long time no see you three. Kari, I'm surprised to see you still up and around. After losing Gatomon and all, I thought that you would have given up."

"You clearly don't know me very well; it's going to take more than that to make me give up. I know Gatomon will come back so until then, I just have to do the best I can," Kari replied to her friend flatly. She knew Susan was trying to make her upset, but she wasn't going to let it work. She had to stay strong for Gatomon, for TK, for everyone. She wasn't going to give up anytime soon. Susan laughed at Kari's answer.

"You see, Kari, that's not the answer I had wanted to hear. We're here to make sure your light goes out, and then the mission will be complete. You were my friend at one point, but that's changed. I must follow Master's orders. Belphemon, what are you waiting for? Get them," Susan barked. Belphemon rolled his eyes at the command; it was obvious he didn't like having Susan give the commands. Still, orders were orders and Belphemon responded. He stretched out one of his hands and Kari and TK only had seconds to react before being snatched by the Digimon. Kari jumped forward at the last second, throwing herself to the ground. She looked over at TK, to make sure that he was OK, but TK wasn't there.

"Put me down!" TK yelled. Kari whipped around to see TK clutched in Belphemon's large hand. TK was squirming but no amount of force would be able to break the grip Belphemon had on him.

"TK!" Kari screamed at the top of her lungs. She watched helplessly as TK was lifted higher and higher into the air. Kari knew that if she didn't do something fast, TK would be crushed.


	26. Brighter

**Yay here is the next chapter! Things are starting to get really intense in this story. Any ideas on what is going to happen? I'd love to hear them so please review! I don't own Digimon by the way. **

Part 26: Brighter

"Leave him alone!" Kari sobbed. She watched in agony as the person she cared about more than anything, cried out in pain from being crushed. Kari wished more than anything that Gatomon was there, if she was then she would be able to Digivolve and help TK.

"Kari, just get out of here. Find Tai and the others and tell them what's happening. Hurry!" TK said with as much strength as he could. It was obvious he was in a lot of pain but he was fighting through it as best as he could. "Scott, get Kari out of here!" Scott watched as his new friend grimaced in pain and saw how much it was hurting Kari.

"Kari, let's do what he says. There's nothing we can do, if we find the others we might have a chance," Scott said softly. He reached out to touch her shoulder but she pulled away.

"I'm not going anywhere, you go find the others. I'm not moving from this spot," Kari hissed. Her whole body was shaking with a mix of anger and fear. She wasn't going to leave TK when he needed her, he wouldn't have left her so she wouldn't do that to him.

"Kari, don't be stubborn. Just go," TK called again. "Go with Patamon, and hurry." Kari looked down at Patamon, who had been almost silent in this whole confrontation. He was frozen with fear, his eyes wide, unsure of what to do.

"Patamon, it'll be OK. We'll save him, have faith," Kari soothed. She knew of the strong bond between TK and Patamon and as much as this was hurting her, Kari couldn't even begin to imagine how helpless TK felt.

"You are something else, Kari," Susan said in wonder. "You're boyfriend is about to be crushed like a grape and you're telling his Digimon that everything will be OK. What in the world does it take to put out that light of yours? Belphemon, just finish him off now, I'm getting bored with this." Belphemon grinned and tightened his grip on TK. TK yelled in pain again and fell limp.

"No! TK!" Kari screamed so loud she thought she would break in two. Patamon joined her in her scream of fear and his eyes filled with anger.

"You're going to regret that, Belphemon. I'll destroy you!" Patamon threatened. Scott just watched in fear, he couldn't believe that a living creature could be this cruel. His attention was then brought to Kari who had fallen to her knees and was sobbing uncontrollably.

"How could you? Susan, what kind of monster have you become?" Kari sobbed. She lifted her head to look Susan in her expressionless eyes. Susan was actually smiling; Kari couldn't believe what she was seeing. Susan was enjoying watching her suffer.

"That's right, Kari. Let your anger fill your body. After all, we not only took away your Digimon, but now the one person you ever cared about. What are you going to do about it?" Susan mocked. She waved to Belphemon and he released his grip on TK and he fell to the forest ground below. With a thud, TK crashed onto the hard dirt and lay still. Kari gasped and jumped to her feet and ran to TK, ignoring her own safety.

"Susan, shall we give her a moment to wallow in the darkness?" Belphemon asked with an amused tone in his voice.

"Why not? Don't worry, Kari, we'll be back soon," Susan said as she and Belphemon vanished into the trees. Kari didn't even hear them; she had reached TK and fell to her knees next to him.

"TK, TK please answer me," Kari pleaded. "You can't leave me; you said you would never leave me. TK, please come back. I need you, TK. You're my best friend, TK; I can't do this without you. TK, I, I love you, TK."

"I'll never leave you, Kari. I love you too," a weak voice answered. Kari held her breath as TK slowly opened his eyes. His blue eyes met her and Kari began sobbing again. She knew he would be all right, TK was strong and he wasn't alone.

"TK, don't ever scare me like that again. I thought I lost you. How do you feel?" Patamon asked flying over to TK as fast as his wings could carry him.

TK looked over at Patamon and smiled. "Let's just say I don't recommend Belphemon for a massage."

"TK, how can you be making jokes? You were almost crushed to a pulp," Kari asked in wonder. She wiped some of the tears out of her face and gave a weak smile. It was then that TK's response when he woke up connected with her brain.

"TK, you said you loved me," Kari stated in a weak voice. She wasn't sure if what she had heard was true, she hoped it was.

"Of course I said I loved you, I've wanted to tell you that for a while. You said it too, remember?" TK said with a big grin on his face. Kari smiled and nodded, when she had said it, she wasn't even sure what she was saying.

"I thought I was going to lose you, I didn't want you to leave without knowing that. It's true, TK, I love you, more than anything," Kari said. She felt the tears come back to her eyes and she tried to wipe them away.

TK smiled gingerly and put his hand on the side of her face. "You mean more than anything to me, too. That's why I said I'd follow you anywhere; I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt. Now, let's go save Susan. If anyone can reach her, you can," he told her. TK tried to sit up but Kari pushed him back down again.

"Oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere. TK, you almost got crushed; you're in no shape to be going anywhere. ___I'm not going to risk losing you again; we'll wait for the others to get back. Susan has been gone this long, she can wait a little bit longer," Kari told him sternly. TK sighed and shut his eyes, grimacing in pain. "TK? Are you OK?" Kari asked frantically. _

_"__Yeah, just a little sore I guess. I'll be OK; don't worry about me, Kari," he said through clenched teeth. _

___Kari looked down at TK and then turned to face Scott, who was standing behind them. "Scott, get TK's D-tector from the cave and e-mail the others. We need Joe, tell them to hurry," Kari demanded. With a nod, Scott took off into the cave and Kari looked back down at TK. She knew he was lying about how much pain he was in; he was doing exactly what she would do, trying to mask the pain. "Scott, hurry!" Kari yelled towards the cave. _

_"__I've got it, here," Scott said, handing her the D-tector. Kari flipped it open and frantically began typing away; she had to get the others back as soon as she could. "How long will it take for them to get back?" Scott asked, looking over Kari's shoulder._

_"__If they know that TK's hurt, they won't waste a second, especially Matt and Tai. If they take over five minutes to get here, I'll be surprised. They've been on the edge the past few days and I think this will be enough to really make them mad. Let's just hope they get here before Belphemon comes back. With TK injured like this, Patamon won't be able to Digivolve and Frimon is still too weak from his last battle. If they come, we're sitting ducks," Kari whispered. Strength was not on their side, and neither was time. Tai and Matt had to get back as soon as they could, Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon were the only Digimon that had a chance of stopping Belphemon. _

_"__It looks like your backup team is a little late, what a shame. I wanted to see the looks on their faces when we crush you all," a girl's voice rang out. Kari watched as Susan and Belphemon appeared in the trees. Susan was smirking as she looked at Kari and TK. "I really thought that would have finished him, looks like I didn't give TK enough credit, he's tough. But, I guess I should consider myself lucky, now I get to mess with you a little bit more. Belphemon, why don't we take them to our little playground?" Susan asked, shooting a wayward glance at the giant Digimon. _

_"__A one way ticket to the darkness, coming right up," the dark Digimon said laughing. He clapped his hands together and began to mumble some words in another language. As he spoke, the light around Kari, TK and Scott seemed to fade. Patamon flew closer and landed on Kari's shoulder. Scott sat on the ground next to Kari and held Frimon even closer. As the light faded, darkness seemed to grow around them, threatening to suffocate them._

_"__Kari!"_

_"__TK!" Kari looked up to see Matt and Tai coming towards them as fast as they could. She could see Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon running behind them, ready to attack._

_"__Tai!" Kari tried to scream, but no words came out. The darkness closed in and Kari found that she couldn't breathe; she shut here eyes and waited for it all to be over. Her body shook as the darkness grew around her, she didn't know what she could do. The darkness was winning; it was going to swallow her. _

_"__Gatomon, Tai, TK, I'm sorry. I'm not strong enough to do this without you. My light isn't enough on its own, I need you all here with me," Kari thought. She then felt a hand grab hers. Kari opened her eyes a tiny bit and saw that TK had woken up and was holding her hand. He smiled faintly at her._

_"__Kari, you're not alone. The people you love are always with you, don't give up on them," he whispered softly. He shut his eyes again and Kari felt his grip on her hand loosen. Kari then realized he was right, her friends were always with her, he was always with her. _

_"__Gatomon, you're here too, aren't you?" Kari asked out loud. Kari then felt a warm presence and Kari knew that Gatomon had heard her. "Gatomon, thank you for always being with me, you were right all along." Kari then felt a strange presence in her heart, like someone had turned on a warm light. The light grew brighter and brighter, Kari felt it push back the darkness, she found it easier to breathe and Kari knew the light was winning. _

___The darkness tried to push in again, more powerful than before and Kari used every ounce of strength she had to push the darkness away, but it wasn't enough. Kari felt the darkness come back and it enveloped her again. With her strength gone, Kari felt a wave of darkness come over her as her world went black. _

_"__Kari, your light is even brighter, it weakened the darkness and you did it all by yourself. Good job, I'm proud of you," Kari heard a familiar voice whisper before the darkness overtook her. _


	27. Prisioner

**Time for another chapter! Hope this chapter is up to everyone's standards. Pretty please review so I know what you all think of this story. **

* * *

Part 27: Prisoner

Kari felt like she was lost in a sea of darkness, she had no idea which way was up and which was down. "Is anyone there?" Kari called out into the vast darkness. "TK? Scott? Tai!" When Kari got no response, she became discouraged. "Great, now what am I supposed to do?" Kari asked to no one. "Oh, now I'm talking to myself, Kari get a hold of yourself." Kari then realized she was answering herself and decided to stop talking all together.

"Kari, wake up! Do you hear me, Kari?" a voice from nowhere called. Kari knew that voice through.

"Patamon? Is that you? Where are you?" Kari yelled. Patamon's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and Kari couldn't follow it. "Patamon, say something else!" Kari yelled into the darkness.

"Kari, come on, wake up," Patamon called again. Kari decided that she was just going to walk in one direction until she found Patamon. As she began to walk, Kari felt something strange, she felt cold and sore, like she had been dropped into a giant freezer. Kari kept walking and then a dark light began to shine. Kari blinked a few time and when she opened her eyes, she saw she was looking at a stone ceiling. "You're awake, that's good," Patamon said cheerfully. "I was worried that you wouldn't wake up.

"Patamon, where are we?" Kari asked as she sat up. Somehow she had ended up in a small stone room, even though she distinctly remembered being in a forest before.

Patamon shrugged and said, "Beats me, I just woke up and we were here, wherever here is." Kari looked around, trying to get a grasp on her surroundings. They were in a small stone room with very little in it. There was an old wooden door and a small window. There was no furniture in the room; in fact, there was nothing in the room at all. Not even a speck of dust or a crumb of food. Kari then noticed that something else was missing from the room.

"Patamon, where are TK and Scott?" Kari asked in a worried voice.

Not that far from where Kari was Scott was waking up to find himself in a similar predicament. "Kari, TK, where are you?" Scott yelled. He had woken up to find himself in an empty stone room; nothing was there, except for Frimon at least. "Frimon, where do you think we are?"

"I don't know, Scott. I've never seen anything like this. Why don't you look out the window? Maybe it will give us a clue as to where we are," Frimon suggested. Scott nodded in agreement and tried to look out the window. It was too high up for him to look out normally so he jumped up and grabbed a hold of the window sill. As soon as he got a look outside, Scott gave a yelp and fell back. Crashing onto the hard ground, Scott stared in fear at the window.

"Scott!" Frimon exclaimed. "What did you see? What's wrong?"

"We-we're underwater," Scott said in a low, fearful voice.

While Scott got over his shock of where they were, far from his friends, TK was just waking up. "Ugh, what happened? I feel like I've been hit with a truck, a big truck," TK grumbled. He opened his eyes and saw that he was alone. TK shot up like a bullet and looked around. "Kari? Patamon? Where are you guys?" TK yelled. "Scott? Is anyone there? Kari!" TK stood up slowly, using the wall to balance himself. He found that it hurt for him to put any weight on his left leg. Limping slowly, TK made his way to the old wooden door. Turning the knob, TK saw that it was unlocked. The door swung open with a squeak, making a thudding sound as it hit the stone wall. TK peeked his head outside the doorway and saw that there was no one in sight.

The stone hallway was dimly lit, a few torches here and there along the walls. The corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly, with several doors similar to the one TK had opened lining both sides. "I have to find the others," TK said to himself. He began to limp down the hallway, unsure if he was going in the right direction. The way TK figured, going in a random direction was better than sitting around for someone to find him.

As TK made his way down the corridor, he noticed that something was wrong with the corridor; it almost looked like it was melting. The walls seemed to be sagging and the ceiling was lower than before. On top of that, the light was changing. While it had been dimly lit before, the hall seemed to be glowing brighter. Soon it was so blinding, TK had to shield his eyes. When he reopened them, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. TK was back on File Island.

Kari was having a similar experience, she and Patamon had begun to walk down the long hallway, not sure of where they were going. "Kari, do you think we'll find TK soon?" Patamon asked from on top of Kari's head.

"Of course we will, Patamon. He can't be that far away, he was right next to us before we ended up in this place. It's just a matter of finding him before something else does. TK's all alone, since you're with me, unless, he's with Scott. I really hope so, I'd hate for them to both be alone in this place. Hey, what's that light?" Kari asked, pointing to a light at the end of the corridor. Kari walked slowly towards it, unsure of what would be through it. Kari shielded her eyes from its blinding radiance, and stepped into it.

"What the… Kari, how is this possible? Patamon asked in wonder. Kari opened her eyes to a sight she thought she would never see again. She was back in Odiba, at the TV station where TK's dad worked. To be exact, she was on top of the TV station, near the observation platform.

"Patamon, how are we back in the real world? For that matter, how did we end up in Japan? We left the real world from California, how did we end up here?" Kari asked in wonder. She looked around, Odiba was exactly as she had remembered it, lots of buildings, lots of noise, but something was wrong. There were no people anywhere, the streets were empty, cars sat in the middle of the street, unmoving. It all looked very familiar to Kari, she had seen this before. Out of instinct, Kari looked up at the sky. "This is impossible," she whispered. Instead of seeing the blue sky above her, Kari saw an impenetrable fog back. "Patamon, this is Myotismon's fog! We've gone back nine years in the past," she exclaimed. Kari didn't hear a response from Patamon, just a small gasp.

Kari's attention was then brought to an explosion not far from where she was standing. A little ways away, Kari saw the dark Digimon himself, Myotismon. He was looking at something standing in front of him, a little girl. "That's me," Kari whispered. The painful memories from that day began to flood back to Kari, being captured by Myotismon, being attacked by Myotismon, Wizardmon dying in front of her. Kari didn't know what to say, the horrible memories she had been trying to hide for so long came back to her at once and Kari found that she couldn't move.

Kari watched as Angemon fought against Myotismon, it was exactly as Kari remembered. "Actually, I was about to ask you the same question," Myotismon jeered. He flew forward, away from Angemon. "Grisly Wing!" Myotismon sent out a swarm of bats, directly towards where younger Kari was standing.

"Kari, move!" she heard Tai yell, but younger Kari stayed where she was, frozen in fear. The real Kari watched as Wizardmon and to younger Kari and Gatomon, and stood in the way of the attack. He fell to the ground and didn't move.

"No, Wizardmon!" Kari screamed. She thought that everyone else would hear her, but it was like she wasn't there. Kari fell to her knees and cried for her friend. "He died because he wanted to protect us, he knew the danger but he didn't care. Wizardmon, because of me, you're gone. You could have lived if you didn't try to protect me. Why do so many Digimon have to die because of me?" Kari sobbed. She thought of all the Digimon that had given their lives for Kari. Wizardmon, the Numemon, Whalemon, all of them died in order to protect Kari and her friends.

"How many Digimon have to die before the world is safe?" Kari asked herself. She thought of Gatomon, who also died trying to save Kari. It wasn't just the Digimon that were risking themselves, Kari thought about TK and all the times he risked his own life in order to protect her. It wasn't just TK; Tai, Scott, Yolei, even Davis had all risked their lives for her at some point. "Is my own life even worth that? Why would they risk themselves for me?" Kari couldn't seem to come up with an answer, she could think of a lot of reasons for her to protect her friends- they were all so much stronger and braver than she was. They all had something to bring to the Digital World, Kari thought she didn't have as much to bring.

As Kari sat there, paralyzed in fear, she didn't notice the sudden change of scenery. The image of Kari's hometown faded and a new place began to appear, one from a different time in Kari's past. Kari looked around and things began to look familiar to her, she was on a balcony, and not just any balcony. Kari knew this place all too well, it was Pidemon's fortress. "Patamon, do you see this?" Kari whispered. She waited for a response, but the little Digimon said nothing, Kari swiftly put a hand on top of her head, but Patamon wasn't there. "Patamon? Where are you?" Kari called frantically. Without the security of someone else with her, Kari felt the darkness close in around her, threatening to suffocate her.

At that moment, Kari would have done anything to have someone with her. She needed her friends, TK, Tai, even Scott, and especially Gatomon. Ever since Kari had gone with Yolei and Ken into the dark world, she had thought that she was strong enough to fight the darkness. Now, with no one around her, Kari felt weaker than ever. "I can't do this alone, Gatomon, I need you," Kari cried.

"Kari," a soft voice whispered. Kari looked around, but no one was there. She had somehow left Pidemon's castle and was now somewhere else. There wasn't much to look at; in fact, there was nothing to look at. A strange black mist covered everything, keeping Kari in the dark. It was cold and lonely, almost like the way Kari felt at that moment. Without her friends, Kari felt alone and frightened.

"Who's there," Kari called meekly. She hoped that that whoever was calling her was friendly.

"Kari," the voice whispered again. Kari realized that she knew that voice, how many times had she heard it? The one voice that would be able to pull Kari out of the darkness, the voice that Kari only heard in her dreams now.

"Gatomon?" Kari asked the strength of her voice returning. "Gatomon, is that really you?"

"It's me, Kari. What do you think you're doing? Wallowing in the darkness like this? I know you're stronger than this, now get your act together. Your friends need you," Gatomon snapped. Kari knew that she was right, but Kari didn't feel like she would be able to get out of the darkness by herself.

"Gatomon, I can't. I'm not strong enough to get out of the darkness alone, I need you. Gatomon, help me get out here," Kari pleaded.

"Kari," Gatomon's voice said softer than before. "You're not alone, you've never been alone. Just because the others aren't here right now with you, doesn't mean that they're completely gone. Back on the other side, Tai and the others are searching frantically for you, TK and Scott. TK is worried about you, he's looking for you as well and Scott is doing the same thing. Can't you feel the power of their hearts?" Gatomon paused for a moment, letting Kari think about what she had said. As Kari thought about her friends, she was able to feel the power of their hearts in hers. All of them, working endlessly to make sure she got home safely.

"I feel them, in my heart. Their light is so bright and warm; I've never felt anything like this before. This is wonderful, but I still don't think it's enough for me to get out of the darkness. I still don't feel you, Gatomon. I need you more than anyone else."

"Kari, how could you forget what I told you? I'm a part of you, I never really left you. As long as you have the power of light inside you, I'll always be there. So, what are you going to do now, Kari?"

"I-I'm going to go help my friends. Thank you, Gatomon. I feel so much better now; the darkness will never be able to get me as long as I know you're with me. I'll see you when you get back, my friend," Kari told her Digimon. She stood up and watched as the dark mist faded away. The light in Kari's heart was pushing the darkness away, it was creating more light. Kari then realized where she was, the darkness that she was in was the darkness in her own heart. Now that she could see the truth about her friends, it had no power over her.

The brighter the light in Kari's heart got, the faster the darkness faded, soon Kari was able to make out other shapes. She was back in the castle, the one that she had no idea how she got to. With the black mist gone, Kari was able to fully see the passage. "Kari," Patamon exclaimed happily. "You're back, that's good."

"Patamon, what happened? Where did I go?" Kari asked.

"You never really went anywhere, we were walking and you just stopped. You got his distant look in your eyes and you were saying strange things. I was worried, but you're back now and that's all that matters." Kari smiled and picked up Patamon.

"Come on; let's go find TK and Scott. They're probably both having some sort of panic attack," Kari guessed laughing. She wasn't sure what it was, but the corridor didn't feel as dark as it had before.


	28. Haunting

**Another chapter now up. Ever so slowly this story is starting to come to an end. I actually wrote this chapter about a year ago-within this same week or so because I was on winter break then and I'm on winter break now haha. It makes me really happy to see a lot of people adding this story to their favorites list and I hope that more of you will do the same. Even though I don't own Digimon I hope I'm doing the show justice and making all you Digimon fans out there proud. Peace out! **

Part 28: Haunting

"Scott, how can we be underwater?" Frimon asked in wonder. It didn't feel like they were underwater, they could breathe.

"I don't know, pal. I don't really want to think about it, let's just get out of here. We need to find the others." Scott picked up Frimon and went over to the door. To Scott's surprise, it opened quite easily. Scott glanced outside and also to his surprise, there was no one there. "The coast is clear, let's go." Scott tip-toed down the long dark corridor and constantly checked over his shoulder for signs of anything that might not be friendly.

"Scott, maybe I should Digivolve. We don't know what's lurking around down here," Frimon suggested.

"Good idea, go for it." Scott set Frimon on the ground in front of him and held out his Digivice.

"Frimon Digivolve to…Liollmon," the lion Digimon called as he changed into his rookie level. "Now what do you want to do?"

"We have to keep looking for the others. TK probably has Patamon with him, but Kari's all alone. We have to find her," Scott said, determination written across his face. "Oh man, I'm doing it again; I'm being overprotective of her."

Liollmon gave Scott and confused look and asked, "What do you mean, Scott?"

"Before, when were in the Digital World, Kari told me that I didn't need to be as protective of her. But, I can't help it, she just reminds me so much of…" Scott didn't finish his sentence. He didn't like to think about who Kari reminded im of.

"Remind you of whom? Scott, what's wrong?" Liollmon asked. He had never seen Scott so distant looking. He had a lost gaze in his eyes, like he was somewhere else. In fact, Scott was somewhere else; he had left the underwater castle and had found himself looking at a familiar place from his past.

"How did I end up here? Liollmon, what happened?" Scott asked. But his Digimon was nowhere in sight, Scott was alone. "How did I end up back in the real world? More importantly, how did I end up back in Massachusetts? I haven't been here in seven years, what's going on?"

As Scott looked around, more and more things began to look familiar, he was not that far from his old house, it was the park where he used to play. Hr recognized the big oak tree he used to climb and his favorite swing next to it. It was like looking at a picture from his past, everything was exactly as he remembered it. As he stood, gawking at his old town, a piece of newspaper flew across the ground and came to a stop against Scott's legs. "I wonder what day it is," Scott asked out loud. He picked up the paper and looked at the top for the date. "March 18th, 2001," Scott whispered. He dropped the paper and his eyes grew wide. He knew this day; it was the one day he had tried so hard to block of his mind. This was the day that ruined his life, the day that changed everything.

"Come on, big brother, mommy's making dinner. We don't want to be late," a little girl called. Scott slowly turned around and gasped at the sight that was before him. A little girl, only about five years old was skipping down the path. Her flaming red hair, tied in pigtails, shone in the setting sun. She was wearing a yellow jumper and carried a purple bouncing ball.

"I'm coming, Abby. Don't go too far," a boy's voice called back. Scott stared as he watched a young boy run to catch up with the girl. He tore down that path and took the young girl's hand. "Abby, you know you're not supposed to run off by yourself," he told her sternly.

"I'm sorry, Scott. I won't do it anymore, but let's hurry," Scott couldn't believe it, right in front of him was a younger version of himself and his baby sister.

"Abby," he whispered. Scott knew exactly what was going to happen next, he hadn't known it then though. If he had known then, Scott would have done something differently, he would have done anything to stop what was about to happen.

"Scott, what's that?" Abby asked. She pointed to a strange light that was shining in the sky. As she pointed, a strong wind began to pick up. Younger Scott held onto Abby to keep her from falling over. "Look, Scott, it's an egg in the sky." Both Scott and younger Scott looked up into the sky and saw what Abby was pointing at. A large egg was forming in the sky, bigger than any egg Scott had ever seen. A large crack filled the sky and something came out of the egg.

"Abby, let's get out of here," younger Scott said trembling. He tried to pull his sister away from the strange egg but she refused to move.

"No, I want to see what it is," she said firmly. The thing that came out of the egg moved slowly towards Scott and Abby. "It looks like a bear."

Scott watched as a creature in the shape of a bear floated down towards his younger self and Abby. It was black in color and had on a blue baseball cap and blue training braces. He came to a stop in front of Abby and looked up at her. "Hiya, Abby. My name is Bearmon and I'm your partner," he said looking up at her. The painful memory played back in Scott's memory. The bear coming out of the sky, telling Abby he needed her help. Then, against Scott's wishes, she went with him back into the sky.

"Abby, come back! You can't leave, Abby!" the younger Scott screamed at the sky. He fell to his knees and began to sob. Back then, Scott didn't know about the Digimon. No one had believed him when he was a bear came from the sky and took Abby away, after time, he stopped believing it as well. Everyone told him that Abby had been kidnapped, and that she wasn't going to come back. Soon after, they had moved, his parents wanted to get away from the place where they had last known their daughter.

"Abby, why did you go with him? You were so little; you should have stayed with your family. Abbs, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you; I should have a least gone with you," Scott cried to himself. For so many years, he had blamed himself for the vanishing of his sister.

Now, he knew the real reason of why she left. Abby was a Digidestined, somehow she had been called into the Digital World. There was only one question Scott had in his mind, was Abby still there? "Could I have done something differently?" Scott asked himself. "Could I have convinced her to stay here? Why did I let her go?" Something then dawned on Scott, another person in his life that reminded him of Abby. "Kari," Scott whispered. It all made sense to him now, why he was so protective of Kari, she was exactly like Abby.

Abby had always been sweet and kind, just like Kari was. She also hated to make people upset, it was like they were the same person; Scott had never realized it until now. He then remembered something else that had happened on that day. When Bearmon tried to take Abby, Scott tried to keep her from leaving, but Abby told him that she was a big girl and could take care of herself. Kari had told him the same thing not that long ago. "Am I the one pushing them away? I never treated Abby like a big kid and she left, then I did the same thing to Kari. What have I done?" Scott asked himself. Every time he tries to protect someone close to him, he ends up pushing them away. Scott had done that all his life, after losing Abby; he never let anyone get close to him again. He pushed away his parents, his friends in his old town, everyone. Once he moved to California, he was able to make a dew new friends but he never felt as close to them. That was, until he met Kari and he began to treat her like he treated Abby. Now, Kari was mad and him and probably hated him like Abby did. He had pushed two of the two most important girls out of his life, and it was all his fault.

As if to prove him wrong, Scott heard Abby call back to him as she floated away into the Digital World. "I love you, Scottie! You'll always be my big brother, don't forget about me!" she called to a sobbing younger Scott.

Scott hadn't heard her say that seven years, he was crying too loudly, all those years, he thought Abby hated him for always being to over-protective. "I'll never forget about you, Abbs," Scott whispered. "I'm going to find you someday and when I do, I'll be the big brother I'm supposed to be. I won't let my fear of you getting hurt keep us from spending time together. I won't push anyone away anymore," Scott decided. He looked over at his younger self, sobbing on the ground and remembered how horrible he had felt after losing Abby. "Those dark feelings of the past are over; it's time for a new Scott. Look out world, here I come." As Scott decided to change the way he acted, the scene around him began to vanish. In the place of his hometown, Scott saw the familiar looking corridor of the castle.

"Scott, are you all right?" Liollmon asked. Scott hadn't responded to his pleas for a while and he was worried. "Scott, don't make me do this." He opened his mouth and bit Scott in the leg.

"Ouch! Liollmon, what was that for?" Scott asked angrily. He then saw the look of worry and fear on his friend's face and smiled. "Sorry pal, I didn't mean to yell," he apologized.

"Scott, what happened to you? You stopped answering me, I was worried. All you did was stare off into space and whisper some girl's name."

"Abby, her name is Abby. I'll tell you about her later, Liollmon. Right now, we have to go find the others," Scott said, walking down the long hallway. "And, by the way, you bite really hard," Scott said with a laugh. Liollmon grinned and padded next to his friend.

After walking for twenty minutes, there was still no sign of Kari and TK and Scott was getting worried. "Liollmon, do you think something else found them?" Scott asked his friend. Liollmon shook his head.

"I don't think so, Kari and TK are smart. They would know how to avoid danger; after all, they've been to the Digital World many times. This isn't much different," he responded. Scott nodded and they kept walking. After a while, Liollmon stopped and cocked his head to the side. "Hold on, Scott. I hear something, it sounds like flapping," he growled. Liollmon crouched closer to the ground, his teeth bared. "Scott, back up, I don't want you to get hurt." Scott took a few steps back, but still stayed close to Liollmon. As the flapping became louder, Scott could also hear whispering. The voices sounded very familiar to him. Suddenly, the sound stopped and Scott could make out two figures a little ways down the corridor.

"Wh-who's there?" a meek voice called. Scott immediately knew the voice and his fear melted.

"Kari, it's me, Scott," he called out. He ran past Liollmon towards the figure. As he got closer, he was able to make out the shape of his friend. "Kari, you're OK!" he exclaimed.

"Scott, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," Kari said happily. She ran forward and gave her friend a small hug. "Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Kari gave him one of her happiest grins.

"I'm fine, I took a little detour to get here but I'm glad I found you in the end. Is Liollmon with you?" she asked

"I'm right here. Patamon, I'm glad to see that you're OK as well. Is TK with you?" Liollmon asked running up to them. Hearing the voices of his friends made him feel a lot better and he was glad that he didn't have to fight any evil Digimon.

"No, we were hoping he was with you, this means he's all alone in this place. I hope he's OK, we have to find him and fast," Patamon said with a sad tone in his voice.

"Well, why are we standing around here? Let's hurry and find him," Kari exclaimed. It was impossible for her to hide the concern in her voice. Finding Scott but not TK meant that he was by himself in this place, and on top of that he was still hurt. If TK ran into a Digimon, he would be toast.


	29. Reunited

**Wow over 3000 words in this chapter. I think this may be my longest one yet in this story. Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I hope everyone has had a good holiday (whatever you may celebrate). There are only six more chapters in this story then I'm sad to say it will be over. I've had a lot of fun so far and there are still a few more surprises here and there before this story comes to a close. Hopefully you will all keep reading and find out what they are. ~Peace out **

**BTW-Digimon isn't mine. If it was a few things would be different. TK would have kissed Kari, Wizardmon would have been reborn, there would bea season about the kids of the original Digidestined and season 5 would not exist. Anyone out there agree with me on these things? Let me know in reviews. :)**

* * *

Part 29: Reunited

TK stared in wonder at the sight before him; he was back on File Island. He was near the top of the mountain; not far from where Kari had been attacked by Ladydevimon. Although, TK noticed that something was not quite right about the area. As he looked around, TK saw something that concerned him very much; the entire island had been broken apart. "This looks familiar, I really hope I'm wrong though," TK muttered to himself. He began to limp down the path, looking for any sign of where or when he was. If TK was right, he would be seeing some familiar faces soon.

A sudden explosion caught his attention, it wasn't far off but TK knew it would take a lot of effort to get there. "Please don't be what I think it is," TK hoped. Limping his way through the trees, TK found what he was looking for. Or rather, what he was hoping he wouldn't find. Towering over him was Devimon, exactly as TK remembered him. All around him lay the Digimon that he had so easily defeated. Then TK saw himself, near the edge of the mountain. His younger version was cowering in fear, Patamon at his feet.

"No, not this, anything but this," TK pleaded. He watched in horror as his worst nightmare played before him. Devimon had defeated his friends and looked down TK, reaching forward to grab him. Before he had the chance to, Patamon jumped up and got between Devimon and himself. TK remembered how terrified he had been, how he wished for Patamon to be strong enough to stop Devimon. That's when Patamon digivolved for the first time into Angemon.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled as he punched forward. A bright flash of light blinded everyone for a moment, but soon they were able to see that both Devimon and Angemon were fading away.

"Angemon!" the younger TK screamed, tears welling up in his eyes.

"TK, I'll come back. If you want me to," the angel whispered to him. Then, he was gone, as quickly as he had come. The real TK watched as his younger self fell to his feet and sobbed for the loss of his friend. Nine years later, the scars from that battle were still fresh in TK. TK felt the tears well up in his own eyes, losing Patamon, even for such a short time had been the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

"I know Patamon came back, but the thought of losing him again, I don't know if I could handle it. Without Patamon, I don't how I could go on. I never wanted anyone to feel the same loss I had that day. But, Kari lost Gatomon; I wasn't able to keep the promise. I just don't understand why things have to be this way, what do the forces of darkness think they will gain from taking our friends from us?" TK yelled. He held his head and fell to his knees, shaking his head back and forth.

"Now I'm stuck here in this place, I have no idea where my friends are or if they're even OK. If I lost Patamon, or Kari, I could never live with myself. I have to protect them, but what if I'm not strong enough? I wasn't able to protect Patamon from Devimon, and then I almost lost him again when he fought BlackWarGreymon." TK could feel the darkness closing in on him; it was feeding off his insecurities. TK was trapped; the darkness was going to get him. "Patamon, Kari, I'm sorry," TK sobbed to himself. He sat back and waited for the darkness to overtake him.

"TK!"

"TK, can you hear me?" The voices were faint, but TK heard them. Far away, someone was calling to him, trying to pull him out of the darkness.

"TK, please answer me," a girl's voice sobbed. "Don't leave me now that I've finally found you." The two voices continued to call out TK's name but he was too deep in the darkness to hear them.

* * *

"Kari, it's not working," Patamon said frantically. Kari, Patamon, Scott and Liollmon had found TK sitting on the floor in one of the corridors. He had a glazed look in his eyes and it looked like darkness was clinging to him. Kari and Patamon were trying to pull him out of the darkness, but it wasn't working.

"I know Patamon but we have to keep trying. We can't give up on TK," Kari responded, never taking her eyes off of TK. "TK, please answer me."

"Kari, I don't think he can hear you anymore," Scott said softly. He didn't know what to make of what was happening, but he did know that if Kari continued to yell like that, it was sure to attract attention.

Kari whipped her head around and glared at him. "Don't even think that. We have to keep believing that we can save TK, or else he really is lost. But, I'll never give up, he wouldn't give up on either of us so I won't do that to him," she hissed. Kari turned back to TK and kept whispering his name.

"If you're going to keep trying, then you need to try something different, because this isn't working," Scott said kneeling down next to her.

"Scott's right, we need to try something else. Kari, I don't think I'll be able to pull him out, but you might be able to. After all, Kari, you're the light of his life. You have the power to push away the darkness," Patamon encouraged. Kari was about to argue, but then she remembered what Gatomon had told her, all of her friends were with her, giving her strength. Their light was a part of hers.

"Patamon, I can't do this alone, but if we all pulled together, all of our friends, I think we'll have the strength," Kari said smiling. Patamon nodded in agreement but Scott and Liollmon just looked at her with a confused expression on their faces.

"Um, Kari, the others aren't here. What can they do?" Liollmon asked.

"Do you remember what Salamon said before we came to the Digital World? Digidestined are incredibly stubborn, they have a way of making the impossible work. The bond we all share is strong, even a barrier between worlds isn't enough to stop them," Patamon told Liollmon. They watched as Kari shut her eyes and clasped her hands together around her Digivice.

"My friends, I need your strength. We must all work together to pull TK out of the darkness, give me your light," Kari pleaded. She knew that they couldn't hear her words, but she did know that they could all feel her plea and would know in their hearts what to do. As Kari pleaded, she felt the light of her friends in her heart. It created a bright light around Kari, the light of hope.

"What is that?" Scott asked. Kari had begun to glow; it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Then, he felt something in his own heart. A warm sensation, Scott didn't know what it was exactly, but he knew it was good. "The light inside Kari, I feel it in my heart," Scott said in wonder. He shut his eyes and allowed the warm light to wash over him.

Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Scott opened his eyes and saw that the light around Kari had gotten brighter, but it didn't hurt his eyes. Kari opened her eyes slowly, they shone with the same radiance but Kari didn't seem to notice. She slowly took one of TK's hands in hers and the light transferred from her to him. "Kari?" TK whispered softly. He didn't open his eyes, but TK had responded and that was enough for Kari.

"It's working, Kari you're doing it," Patamon cheered. "Come on, TK, you're almost out of the darkness, just a little bit farther." Kari knew that she had to fully bring TK out of the darkness; she had to find a way to give as much of her light to him as she could.

An idea suddenly hit Kari; she hoped that it would be enough. "I hope this works," she whispered. Kari leaned closer to him and kissed TK. Scott watched in wonder, it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. As Kari kissed TK, it was if there was an explosion of light. This light was brighter than anything anyone had ever seen before; it was like a supernova, shining over everything. No trace of darkness was left by the time the light stopped glowing. As the kiss ended, TK opened his eyes ever so slowly, then he saw the face before him, the face of his angel. "Kari, did you pull me out of the darkness?" TK asked. Kari nodded slowly.

"I'm glad you're back TK, I was worried about you," Kari said weakly. Pulling TK out of the darkness had taken a lot of her energy and she felt very tired. "TK Takaishi, don't ever scare me like that again," Kari managed to whisper before she fell over from exhaustion.

"Kari!" TK exclaimed as he caught her. Kari looked up at him and smiled meekly.

"Sorry TK, I'm OK, just a little tired, that's all. Just give me some time to rest, I'll be all right," Kari mumbled as she shut her eyes. TK smiled down at her and held her close to him.

"TK, what happened to you?" Patamon asked.

"I was just having some confidence issues, nothing to worry about pal. Hey Scott, how are you feeling?"

I'm OK; I'm just trying to figure out where we are. Did you know that we're underwater? I saw it with my own eyes, this is an underwater castle." TK's eyes grew wide with fear.

"Underwater? The Dark Ocean, Belphemon must have opened a portal to the Dark Ocean. The only thing I can't figure out is where everyone is. I haven't seen a single thing since we got here. Have you?" TK asked. Scoot shook his head.

"Nope, in fact, when we woke up the room we were in had the door unlocked. It's almost as if whoever locked us down here wanted us to wander around until we found each other," Liollmon responded.

"Took you all long enough to figure that out? I was wondering when I was going to get to see you all," a sinister voice called. "Now that you have all broken through my beautiful illusions, I get to meet you face to face. How delightful," The one speaking then stepped out from one of the many doors in the corridor. "My name is Lilithmon, and since you have defeated every one of our warriors up until now, I get the pleasure of destroying you myself," a human like Digimon laughed. She had the appearance of a woman dressed in a purple dress. Four torn wings lay folded around her body and a strange gold headpiece adorned the top of her head.

"What do you want, you old witch?" Scott antagonized. He was sick of being attacked by evil Digimon and just wanted to be left alone.

"Old…witch….you insolent boy, someone ought to teach you some manners. Phantom Pain…" Lilithmon flew forward at lightning speed and grabbed a hold of Scott's arm. A strange purple light began to glow and Scott screamed out in pain. "I give you the present of darkness, enjoy little boy." Lilithmon let go of Scott and he fell to his knees, clutching his arm in pain.

"Scott! Patamon, do your thing," TK yelled.

"Right…Patamon Digivolve to…Angemon!" A brilliant light shone in the dark tunnel around Angemon. "Lilithmon, I can't allow you to continue with this evil. Remove the sign of darkness from Scott," Angemon demanded.

Lilithmon began to laugh, it was cold and heartless. "What makes you think that I would do such a thing? This boy is the Digidestined of Destiny; he was destined to never leave this world. There is nothing that I can do about it. It's a pity though; he never got to find out what happened to his poor little sister. Oh what a shame," Lilithmon said with fake concern in her voice. She put her face in her hand and made a little pout face. Scott's eyes snapped up at the mention of his sister.

"Where's Abby?" he asked hoarsely. Scott stumbled forward a few steps and looked at Lilithmon. "You know where she is, tell me."

"What would be the point of getting your hopes up of ever seeing her again if you're destined to be destroyed in this dungeon? I say you forget all about poor little Abby," Lilithmon jeered. Scott's eyes grew large and he glared Lilithmon.

"I've had enough of this, Angemon, get her," TK yelled.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon didn't even come close to hitting her; she was so fast it was like she vanished as soon as Angemon came close.

"Well this has been fun, but I have a mission to complete. Hand over the girl and I'll leave you alone," Lilithmon pointed a sharp nail in Kari's direction. TK shot a death glare at her and tightened his grip on Kari.

"Forget it, if you want Kari, you'll have to go through us," TK snapped at her.

"Don't try my patience boy. You and your friends have done nothing but give us a headache since you came to the Digital World. I am about three seconds from destroying the lot of you, now hand her over," Lilithmon hissed.

"Now now, Lilithmon, throwing a tantrum will get you nowhere. These children are strong, you must be them at their own game," a new voice said from the shadows.

Lilithmon turned around to face the darkness behind her. "This has nothing to do with you, Daemon," Lilithmon spat.

"On the contrary, these children have a great deal to do with me. They are the ones who defeated my soldiers after all. Hello Digidestined, do you remember me?" Daemon asked. TK stared at the face of their old enemy; he looked completely different than when they fought him six years ago. In the past, he looked like a little old man with a cloak on, now he had the appearance of a humanoid bat, with two large wings. One arm was longer than the other and he had two sharp horns come out of the top of his head.

"Daemon? What are you doing here?" TK asked. Daemon looked down at TK and grinned manically.

"Have you forgotten my promise to you humans? I swore that I would be back. By banishing me to this forsaken world, you allowed me to become all powerful. It is hopeless, you cannot defeat me," Daemon said with a cruel laugh.

"It's never hopeless; a lot of people are counting on us to come home safely. That's exactly what we are going to do; I won't let my friends down. And I definitely won't let the likes of you get in my way. Angemon…Digivolve!" TK yelled. A yellow glow began to fill the area, surrounding Angemon.

"Angemon…Digivolve to…Mangaangemon. This is the end for you Daemon," Mangaangemon said proudly. He towered over the Digidestined and looked menacingly at Lilithmon and Devimon. "Gate of Destiny," Mangaangemon opened the large golden gate and a strong gust of wind began to blow, pulling everything into it. Daemon was smart enough to jump out of the way of the Gate's forces, but Lilithmon was not as lucky. She was slowly lifted off of her feet and went flying into the portal.

"Your defeat over me has been meaningless; my comrades will come after you. You will never win and your world will be plunged into darkness!" Lilithmon screamed as she fell through the Gate.

Daemon reappeared as soon as the Gate resealed itself. "Lilithmon was a fool to think that she could defeat you all so easily. Good riddance to her, she talked too much anyway. What will you all do now?" Daemon asked, venom lining his voice.

"Well, I was thinking we could start by destroying you. Then, finding a way for us to go home," TK snapped. Daemon began to laugh; the very sound of it sent shivers down TK's spine.

"That would be pointless; the only way out of here is through my master's chamber. And the only way to get through the gate is defeat him; which is impossible," Daemon laughed.

"Just who is your master? What monster of darkness has been chasing us through the entire Digital World?" Liollmon finally asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, kitty cat? I'll leave it to you all, but I think I can give you a small clue. He is a great king, have fun trying to get out of this dungeon," with that, Daemon turned on his heel and walked down the corridor.

"Scott, are you all right? Say something…" Liollmon pleaded. TK turned his head to look at Scott. He was still clutching his arm in pain; his eyes squeezed shut, teeth clenched in pain. "Scott, how do you feel?

"Oh man, Scott, hold on," TK implored. He gently lay Kari down and ran over to where Scott was sitting. He managed to pull Scott's arm off of his wrist, only to reveal something terrifying. Glowing a purple black color, was a strange mark. It was a five pointed star, but it was upside down and in the center of it was an eye.

"The mark of darkness, it will slowly take over Scott's body of something isn't done to remove it," Mangaangemon said sadly.

"Can't you do anything?" Liollmon asked the angel Digimon. "If anyone could remove it, it's you." Mangaangemon shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Liollmon. There's nothing that I can do, the mark of darkness is too powerful for even me to remove."

"Liollmon, it hurts. Someone, make it stop," Scott cried through gritted teeth. Liollmon nuzzled Scott, trying to make him feel better, but it didn't work.

"What's going on?" Kari asked softly. She had finally woken up and was looking at her friends. "Scott, what happened?" she asked, fear in her voice.

"Li-Lilithmon and her mark of darkness," Scott managed to say.

"Let me see," Kari said gently. She made her way over to Scott and took a hold of his arm. "This looks bad, how long ago did this happen?"

"Not that long ago, Lilithmon attacked and then Daemon showed up," TK told her. Kari's head snapped around and she looked up at him.

"Daemon? That means; we're in the Dark Ocean. I should have known. We have to get out of here fast, the longer we're in this world, the greater danger we're in," Kari said, fear shaking every word.

"But what about Scott? We have to get this Dark Mark off of him. Who knows what it will do to him," Liollmon whined. He nuzzled Scott's arm again and put his head in Scott's lap.

"Well, we better think of something fast, we're running out of time," Mangaangemon said.


	30. King

**Woah two chapter updates in one day. I feel very accomplished. I'm very excited to post this chapter because you now get to meet a character I told you about at the very beginning. One that would make her apperance near the end. Her time has finally come so without any futher ado-I give you chapter 30 of Sinking into Darkness. Read, enjoy, and review. Peace out.**

Part 30: King

"What do you mean Lilithmon has been defeated?" the Dark Master asked. He slammed his hand down on the arm rest of his throne and glared down at the Digimon below him.

"I-I don't know how it happened, Master. Lilithmon was winning the fight, but the Digimon of the child of Hope Digivolved to his ultimate level. He was more powerful than her, he had the power of the child of Light on his side," the terrified Digimon stammered.

The Master rubbed his temples gently and didn't look at the useless Digimon that dared to give him bad news. "And what of Daemon? I sent him down to aid Lilithmon, has he been defeated too?"

"No Master, Daemon remains somewhere in the castle, but he has not returned to the upper levels yet. Leviamon has gone to search for him, but has not reported anything yet. And also, before Lilithmon was defeated, she managed to mark one of the Digidestined with the Mark of Darkness. The children have no hope of saving him in time."

The Master smiled, finally some good news. "Which of the Digidestined?" he asked, he liked to know which of his prisoners suffered.

"The one who bears the crest of Destiny," the Digimon said, courage gaining in his voice. The Master's excitement soon turned to rage.

"What?" he roared. "Of the three children down there, Lilithmon attacked the one that has absolutely no use in our plans? At least tell me that the child of Hope is still trapped in his dark memories, without him, the child of Light is powerless."

The other Digimon scuffed his foot against the hard ground. "Well," he began, "When the child of Light found the child of Hope, she was able to pull him out of the darkness. They will be on their way up here soon, Lilithmon revealed that this is where the gate to the Digital World is," he mumbled. The Digimon cowered in fear, preparing for an explosion of anger.

"I see; I have underestimated the power of this girl. She got away from me once, but I will not let that happen again. If you want something done right, you must do it yourself. Beelzemon, you have given me one too many wrong answers. Your services are no longer required. You will now spend the rest of eternity in darkness, good-bye." The Master made a motion with his hand and without so as much of a scream Beelzemon vanished into thin air. "Good riddance to that fool. Susan my child, the time has come for me to present myself to the Digidestined. We travel to the dungeon now, come." From the shadows, Susan followed the Master out of the hall. Lunamon was nowhere to be seen, Susan was on her own now.

"Master, what will you do to the Digidestined when you find them?" Susan asked as they walked the twisting halls.

"You will see in good time, my faithful servant. The Child of Light and I have some unfinished business to settle, and when I find her. Well if I was her I wouldn't want to be in her shoes," the Master said with a deep laugh.

Far below where Susan and the Master were, TK and Kari were still trying to calm Scott down. He was in even more pain than before, and everyone was beginning to lose hope that they would be able to save him. "Kari," Scott whispered. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it, Scott?" Kari asked, leaning in closer to Scott. He was talking so low, she could barely hear him.

"When you get back the Digital World, I need you to find someone for me. Her name is Abby, she's a Digidestined too. She- she was taken to the Digital World seven years ago, I think she's been there the whole time. I want you to find her, and tell her I'm sorry, for everything. Tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry it took me this long to find her," Scott whispered. Even talking was putting him in pain; he blinked his eyes a few times and looked up at the ceiling.

"Scott Martin, stop talking like you're not coming back with us," Kari snapped. She wasn't going to let Scott go without a fight, he was her friend and she wasn't going to leave him. "You're going to be fine, you are coming back to the Digital World and together we can find Abby. You can tell her you're sorry yourself."

"I don't think I will, Lilithmon was right, it's my destiny to perish down here. Might as well do as nature dictates, I just wish I could have seen my parents and Abby one last time," Scott muttered. His eyes were beginning to glass over, a distant expression on his face.

"Scott, please don't go. There was so much of the Digital World I wanted to show you. I wanted to show you that it wasn't all bad," Liollmon sobbed. Scott turned his head to face his Digimon.

"I don't think it's all bad, Liollmon. After all you're not bad, you're the exact opposite. Liollmon, you're the best friend I've ever had. For so long I've pushed everyone away, thank you for being my friend. And TK," Scott whispered, turning to look at TK. "I'm sorry for what I said to you the other day. If anyone can protect Kari, it's you. Make sure you beat these creeps, OK?" TK nodded, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You don't have to apologize; I know you only wanted to make sure Kari was safe," TK mumbled. He couldn't get over the fact that they were about to lose Scott. It seemed like a really bad dream to him, Kari was sobbing and Liollmon had become silent. TK had no idea what to think, it all seemed so hopeless.

"You guys better get going, you have a battle to fight. Liollmon, go with them. You'll be much more useful if you go with them," Scott said, shutting his eyes again.

"Absolutely not, there is no way in the Digital World that I'm leaving you," Liollmon growled.

"Us either, we're a team Scott. We don't turn out back on each other. We'll stay with you until the end," Kari managed to say between her sobs. Scott looked up at TK and nodded. TK understood what he meant and he grabbed Kari's arm.

"Let's go, Kari. Scott knows what he wants; let's give him this last request. Liollmon, are you coming?" TK asked as he pulled Kari away.

"No, I'll catch up with you later. Be careful out there, all of you," Liollmon said as he curled up next to Scott. TK nodded sadly and took one last look at Scott before leading Kari around the corner and out of Scott's view.

"We can't leave him," Kari sobbed. "He doesn't deserve to be alone in the last moments of him life, we need to be back there with him, TK."

"Scott knows what he's doing. Besides, he's not alone, he has Liollmon with him. And he's right; we have a battle to win. If we don't face this evil, losing Scott will have been meaningless. That's why we have to keep fighting on until we get home. Then, we can find Abby and pass on Scott's message.

I-I know, I just hate the thought of leaving him behind. We might never see him again. And what about his parents? They have no idea what's been going, now we have to go back and tell them their son died in a digital war. They'll be heartbroken, and his family has already suffered enough," Kari cried. She looked down at her shoes, she had never left a friend behind before and she felt horrible about it. This feeling was even worse than losing Gatomon, she would come back someday, but once Scott was gone he was gone for good.

"TK, I hear someone coming," Mangaangemon said quickly. TK and Kari grew silent as they listened to the sound of footsteps coming down the long corridor. As Kari listened, she began to feel a strange presence. Something very dark was coming their way, and Kari could feel the negative energy pouring from it.

"Kari, are you OK?" TK asked when he noticed Kari had begun to tremble. She was holding her head in pain and every muscle in her body quivered.

"The darkness, its coming and it's strong," Kari managed to breathe. With every step, the dark energy grew stronger; soon TK found that he was able to feel it. It didn't cause him the same pain it caused Kari, but her felt it all the same.

"Way to spoil an entrance, Kari," an all too familiar voice said. Susan came walking out of the shadows, a smirk on her face. "We were going to surprise you both, but I suppose we can't have everything we want. I heard about Scott's little incident. That's too bad; I was hoping I could get the chance to crush him myself."

"Susan, how could you say that? Scott is one of your best friends!" Kari exclaimed. She still couldn't believe that this was Susan, the sweet girl that befriended her on her first day at her new school. It didn't seem possible; the girl that was standing in front of her now seemed evil.

"That Susan isn't here anymore; I'm not the weakling I used to be. Now that I have accepted the power of darkness, it has given me strength beyond my wildest dreams," Susan said proudly, throwing her arms into the air."But I'm not here to gloat about my power; I'm here to introduce my master to you. The one who is responsible for everything that has been happening since you came to this word, the reason Gatomon isn't here anymore. I present to you, the Undersea Master, Dragomon."

Susan extended her arm to an eerie portal that was beginning to open. The Digimon that came out of it was unlike any Digimon Kari or TK had ever seen before. He had some sort of octopus for a head, and his arms and legs were long, slimy tentacles. Both of his feet and one of his arms were made up of several tentacles, bound together with chains and metal bands. Around his neck, he wore a single strand of purple beads. Coming out of his back were two red wings and his head had some sort of strange pattern on it.

"So, the children of Light and Hope are finally gracing my presence," Dragomon seethed. His voice was dark and harsh sounding, like he had never spoken a kind word in his life. Kari's entire body began to shake at the sight of this Digimon; he was the source of the dark energy she had been feeling. Now that he was so close to her, Kari could barely take the pain anymore. "You two have been giving me quite the headache. You escaped my clutches the first time I brought you to my world, now you destroy my best soldiers and make it quite difficult to absorb negative energy from."

"Wait, so you're the one who brought Kari to the Dark Ocean six years ago," TK said in wonder.

"Clever boy, you don't miss a thing. I am the one who brought the Child of Light to my world. Before then, she was weak and had no idea of the light she possessed inside of her. When her Digimon was able to Digivolve in my world, I knew a power had been awakened inside of her. So, I plotted and schemed for I knew that it would take a lot more effort to get the Child of Light to join me and my army of darkness. I have already taken away a great deal in your life little girl, so why don't you just give up?" Dragomon jeered.

Kari didn't respond to Dragomon's question. She simply stared at her shoes and whimpered. In her heart, she knew he was right. Gatomon was gone, now Scott, everyone she cared about was going away. Kari didn't want to see any more of her friends get hurt, they didn't deserve to suffer because they wanted to protect her. That's how Gatomon was destroyed and how Scott suffered. They were both trying to take care of her, it was her fault they were gone.

"That will never happen," TK hissed to the evil Digimon. There are a lot of people counting on Kari to come home safely and I know she won't let the destruction of the ones she loved be in vain. Kari's hope is too powerful for that. So why don't you give up, you walking piece of sushi?" Dragomon smirked at TK's outburst, he found it funny.

"TK, he's right. How can I keep fighting when everyone I care about is getting hurt one by one? First I lost Gatomon, I almost lost you and now Scott's gone. TK, I'm losing this war, I have to put an end to the suffering," Kari whispered. TK wheeled around and faced her, his blue eyes wide in shock. Kari ignored the look on TK's face and asked," Dragomon, if I go with you, will you leave my friends and the Digital World alone forever?"

"You have my word, young Digidestined," Dragomon said flatly. TK could tell by the look on his face that he was lying. He had to stop Kari from making the biggest mistake of her life.

"Kari, I'm begging you, don't do this. You can't give into the darkness. If you go with him, Gatomon's death will be in vain," TK pleaded. Kari looked longingly at him, her eyes filled with tears. "TK, I can't lose anyone else I love, especially not you. Please forgive me, and don't ever lose hope. I love you TK, so much. Goodbye," Kari whispered in his ear. She gave him a small peck on the cheek and walked past him, towards Dragomon and Susan.

"That's a good girl. Susan, will you please show our young guest where she will be staying. I have a few more things I must take care of," the Digimon King ordered. Susan nodded and motioned for Kari to walk down the hall. TK was about to run after her; when Dragomon wrapped a slimy tentacle around his leg causing him to fall. "If I was you, I wouldn't try to go after your friend. I will destroy her if given a good reason. Now be a good little human and vanish," Dragomon hissed into his ear. He released his grip on TK and disappeared down the dark corridor that Kari had gone down.

"Kari, why did you do it? Why did you give yourself up to the darkness? I'm sorry; I couldn't protect you from Dragomon. I told you that I would never leave you and I let you down. Forgive me, Kari." TK sobbed. Tears welled up in his eyes and began to fall down onto the cold stone floor. Kari was gone from his life, his light had gone out. What was the point of hoping if he didn't have anyone to share his hope with?

"If you want to get your friend back, I suggest you stop this pity trip and get up. You can't fight the darkness bawling you eyes out like a baby," a soft voice suddenly said from behind TK. TK's head snapped around in the direction of the voice. Standing behind him was a young girl; she was younger than TK, by a few years. Her flaming red hair was pulled back into a ponytail and somehow her jasmine green eyes shone in the dark hall.

"So, do you want to save your friend?" a second voice asked. At the girl's feet TK noticed a small Digimon. He looked like a black bear cub, but was wearing a baseball cap and blue training bands around his arms. "We can help you, if you want."

"Who are you?" TK asked timidly. By this point, TK had no idea who he could trust and who was a threat to him. Especially here in the Dark Ocean.

The girl smiled gently. "My name is Abby and this is my partner Bearmon," she said gesturing to the Digimon next to her.

TK relaxed a little bit, this girl was clearly a human and as far as he could tell she was on the good side. "My name's TK and this is Patamon." Patamon nodded in greeting from TK's side. "How did you get down here?" There were still so many questions TK had for this young girl, but he knew there wasn't time.

"I'll tell you later, right now we have to go save your friend. Dragomon's evil ways have gone unchecked for too long. It's time this war is ended for good," Abby said sternly. She clenched her hand into a fist and TK saw her eyes fill with fire. It was a look TK knew he had seen somewhere before, but he couldn't think of where.

"Well, what are we still doing here?" Bearmon asked. He stood up on his two hind feet and looked at Abby. "Time to go kick some Digi-butt," the small bear said in anger. He got down on all fours and began walking past TK down the hall. Abby followed and TK fell into step beside her.

"Abby, I have to know, where are you from?" TK asked after a few minutes of walking in silence. Abby turned to look up at him; she barely came to TK's shoulder.

"America, but I haven't been there in a long time. I've been in the Digital World for the past seven years. One day, Bearmon came to my hometown and told me that I was destined to help him save his world. I was only five then, so I went with him. I left everything behind, my home, my friends, my patents and most importantly, my brother," Abby said sadly.

The realization hit TK like a train, the person Abby reminded TK of, everything made sense. "Your brother, his name is Scott, isn't it?" TK asked softly. Abby froze in her tracks, a look of shock and horror on her face.

"Ho-how did you know that? Do you know Scottie? Where is he?" Abby stammered.

"He's a friend of mine; I met him a few days ago actually. He's been helping us in the Digital World. He-he wanted us to find you, and give you a message. Abby, I'm sorry to tell you this, but, Scott is gone. Lilithmon attacked him and it was too much for his body to handle. He wanted me to tell you that he loves you, and that he's sorry it took him so long to find you," TK mumbled. He looked at his shoes, not daring to look the young girl in the face.

"Lilithmon, that old witch, they'll all pay," Abby hissed through her teeth. "They've gone too far now, every last one of them will pay dearly. Let's go TK; we have some Digimon to destroy." Abby was just about to take off running, when TK grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Who are these Digimon? Why have these mega level Digimon been attacking us? What do you know that I don't?" TK asked, finally looking at Abby. It was Abby's turn to look away, glancing down at Bearmon before continuing. "They're Dragomon's council. A group of the seven most powerful and evil Digimon in creation. Every one of them has an army under them and on top of that they are all experienced fighters."

"Yeah, we figured that out on our own. Belphemon almost crushed TK into a pancake," Patamon piped in.

"Belphemon? He's the least of your worries; he's all brawns and no brain. There are two you need to be worried about, the one who bears the mark of darkness. His name is…"

"Daemon. We've run into him once or twice over the years. He had the mark of darkness on him, he showed us his true form not that long ago actually," TK muttered. He was still irritated at Daemon for the things he said to them. His vague clues are what put them in this mess.

"The other one is the most powerful of all seven of them, his name is Lucemon. He has powers that you have only imagined of in your wildest dreams. They all work for Dragomon, and from what I've heard a few of them have been defeated already. I'm guessing by you and your friends, the other Digidestined that are still in the Digital World." "Yep, we beat Lilithmon not that long ago. So that means six are left to beat," Patamon chirped in cheerfully.

"Not quite, word around the castle is that Beelezmon has also been destroyed. By Dragomon himself in fact," Bearmon said solemnly. "It just proves how insane he is, and how powerful. If he is willing to destroy one of his own council members, who also happens to be a mega, then he is messed up. Dragomon isn't someone to take lightly. We'll have to stay on our toes if we want to get out of here in one piece," Abby remarked. She gave one last look at Bearmon and without another word continued to walk through the winding corridors. TK followed silently, lost in his own thoughts. He was terrified of what had become of Kari, if Dragomon would destroy one of his own, what would he do to her? It was a question he didn't want to think about.

* * *

**Oh yeah and just a reminder. I don't own Digimon. Those rights belong to Akiyoshi Hongo. You rock dude! **


	31. Leviamon

**Happy New Year everyone! This is my New Year's present to you-four new chapters. And also one of my New Year's goals is to finish more stories and get them posted on here so keep an eye open for my work. Hope everyone has a great start to the new year.**

Part 31: Leviamon

"So how much longer are we going to have to be stuck down here until we find Kari," Patamon asked wearily from TK's head. They had been walking through the twisting corridors for nearly two hours and everyone was tired and hungry.

"Maybe we should take a break," TK suggested. He knew that if Patamon was tired when they found Dragomon he wouldn't be able to help save Kari.

"I'm game, but we shouldn't take too much time. Dragomon probably has guards all over this place now that he knows that we're here. We should be on toes for anything out of the ordinary," Abby remarked as she sat down on the stone floor. TK sat down next to her and looked from right to left, keeping an eye out for any Digimon. Five minutes passed and neither Abby nor TK spoke a word to each other. Just then, Patamon's ears perked up. Looking down the corridor, he watched with anger filled eyes.

"Patamon, what's wrong?" TK asked, noticing his Digimon's strange behavior.

"Shh, I hear something. Listen," he commanded. TK became silent and he listened for whatever sound Patamon was able to hear.

"Patamon, I don't hear anything. Are you sure you're not imagining it?" Abby asked. The only sound that she was able to hear was the sound of their breathing.

"Shh, I hear some sort of footsteps. What the…?"

"Cauda!" The words shot out like lightning from the shadows not that far away from where Patamon was standing. For the inky blackness, two long red tendrils pierced out and struck Patamon head on. He flew backward and smashed into the stone wall with a thud. "Sorry, did I break your friend?" a raspy voice asked. "That's a shame, I wanted to play with it some more." As the voice spoke, a Digimon began to emerge from the shadows. How it managed to conceal itself was a mystery. The Digimon was long, like a crocodile but most of its body was its enormous snout. Hundreds of razor sharp teeth lined the edges of its mouth and it stared at TK and Abby with two black beady eyes. The next biggest part of its body was the tail, which was the thing that hit Patamon. It split off into two thinner tails near the end and they seemed to twitch with a life of their own.

"Leviamon, what are you doing slinking around down here? Shouldn't you be off eating twice your weight in data? I wouldn't expect any less from a bottomless pit such as yourself," Bearmon growled. "I'd get out before I get really mad."

"Oh, like I'm terrified of a talking teddy bear. Hand over the humans and I might be in a good enough mood to spare your lives," Leviamon hissed. He glanced back and forth at Abby and TK. TK had run to Patamon and was holding him in his arms.

"Where's Kari?" TK demanded. "I'm getting really tired of all of you giving us grief. I want to know the truth and I want to know now, so you are going to tell me what I want to know."

"TK, you worry about taking care of Patamon. Bearmon and I will worry about fang face over here," Susan called over her shoulder. TK nodded and backed away. He watched as Susan pulled out her Digivice, it was a D3, like his and pure white in color. "Bearmon, let's show Toothy what happens when he messes with us. Warp-Digivolve!"

"Warp?" TK wondered out loud. That was something he was not expecting at all.

"Bearmon, Warp Digivolve to…Callismon!" In the place of sweet little Bearmon, an enormous bear towered. TK wondered how he fit into the hallway; the Digimon seemed to take up most of the hall. "

Rodeo Bullet!" From the weapon attached to Callismon's massive arm; thousands of bullets shot out creating a wall of smoke as they connected with Leviamon.

TK coughed violently, bringing his arm up to his mouth as a shield from the smoke but it was everywhere. "Abby? Patamon? Where are you?" TK choked through the smoke.

"TK come on, this is our chance," Abby called through the smoke. He felt something grab his arm and TK felt himself being dragged away from the smoke cloud. Completely disoriented, TK was led down another corridor and then he was shoved sharply to the right. "The coast is clear, that was way too close for comfort," Abby panted. TK finally got his bearings and saw that Abby had led him to a small storage room. Abby was standing by the door, Patamon on her head. She must have grabbed him before Callismon attacked.

"Next time, warn a guy," TK coughed. He still had a ton of smoke in his lungs and TK found it made speaking very difficult.

"There was no time. Let's just hope Callismon was able to destroy Leviamon. If not, we're in big trouble. Leviamon has a short fuse and if we made him mad he'll find the most painful way possible to destroy us." Abby turned back around and peeked out the door. "It's quiet; which means one of them won the fight. Come on, we better go and find Bearmon." Without waiting for a reply, Abby took off down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

"She's as impatient as Scott, they are defiantly related," TK muttered as he ran out of the room. Jogging up behind Abby, TK looked around the hallway where they had just been.

The once smooth walls had been smashed into piles of rubble; leaving new passages between the winding corridors. In the middle of the destruction; a small Digimon sat looking at them. Abby smiled and ran over to the little creature. "You did a great job, Wanyamon. I'm proud of you," Abby told the Digimon. As TK looked at the small Digimon in her arms, TK was reminded of Nyaromon. It was like a cat but it was blue and a lot furrier than Nyaromon. Two little fangs protruded from its mouth and it looked up at TK with large green eyes.

"I told you I would be able to take care of that over sized gecko," Wanyamon said happily. He grinned up at Abby and accomplishment beamed from his face.

"I didn't doubt you for a second, Wanyamon. We better get out of here before the other Digimon here wonder what caused the explosions," Abby said rapidly. TK nodded and followed Abby away from the destruction.

"So where do we go from here?" Patamon asked as they walked along the intersecting corridors. They had been down in the dungeon for so long; everything was starting to look familiar to Patamon.

"We need to get to the upper levels of the castle, that's where we'll find Dragomon," Abby responded.

"And Kari," TK added in. TK knew that the longer they took to get to the upper floors of the castle, the greater the danger Kari was in. TK, Patamon, Abby and Wanyamon weaved through the long corridors for what felt like forever. There was no sign of them ever ending, every time they made a bend they saw the same thing.

After an hour of wandering through the endless maze of halls, something finally changed. A large metal door loomed over all of them at the end of the hall. "Well, this looks promising. Are we finally going to get out of this dungeon?" Patamon asked. Abby smiled at Patamon and stood in front of the massive door and studied it. TK stood next to her and was amazed at what he saw. There were thousands of pictures covering the door. Many of them looked like Digimon, but a few also resembled people.

"What does this mean?" Abby wondered in awe.

"I'm not sure; maybe it tells a story of some sort. Like this history of the Digital World. Some of these Digimon I recognize; I've come across most of them at some point," TK said as he pointed to various Digimon on the door. "This is an Etemon. And over here is Seadramon. The one over there is…is Devimon." TK pointed to a particularly large picture of the Fallen Angel Digimon. As TK looked at more of the pictures, something didn't seem quite right. Every one of them he knew, because he had fought all of them at some point.

"TK look, there's Pidemon," Patamon pointed out. TK was starting to worry about the meaning of this door by this point.

"I really think this is a history of the Digital World. All of these Digimon, I've fought them all before. But the one's before Devimon I don't know."

"This is starting to creep me out a little bit," Bearmon whimpered. "Maybe we should just keep going. I have a bad feeling about this door."

"I agree with Bearmon, come on TK let's get out of here," Patamon whispered. TK sighed and turned from the metal door. "There is evil here, I can feel it. We're all in danger, we need to move now." Before TK had the chance to respond, a low rasping sound filled the space. Footsteps echoed up and down the length of the hall along with a strange metallic clanking sound.

"Who's there?" TK called out. The raspy sound was replaced with a soft chuckle.

"TK, let's get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this. We need to go find Kari," Abby whispered in TK's ear. She stared back down the way they had come, her green eyes wide with fear.

"Don't be afraid of me, little human. My battle doesn't concern you. It's the Digidestined of Hope that I want. Come to me, child. I will take you to your friend if you like," a raspy voice called out from the dark corners. The darkness melted away and standing there was a human like Digimon. He was rather short, nowhere near as tall as TK and he had a long white beard and just as long white hair. Six blood red wings protruded from his back and his hands each had long sharp claws on them. Clutched in one of his hands was a sort of staff. The top of it had a red orb being clutched in what looked like a clawed hand and the rod ended down in a point at the bottom. "Don't look so startled. Child of Peace, you know very well who I am so why don't you introduce me?"

"Barbamon, what do you want? We've had enough trouble today so leave us alone," Abby seethed.

"Don't be rude, human, unless you want to join your brother in the Dark Area." Abby looked up and stared straight into Barbamon's lifeless eyes. "I see I've gotten your interest. Would you like to see your brother again? From what I've heard you haven't seen him in a long time. I can take you to him if you'd like."

"Abby, he's trying to trick you. Don't listen to a word he's saying. He won't take you to Scott," TK pleaded. He gripped her wrist and pulled her farther away from Barbamon.

"TK's right, Abbs. Barbamon is a monster, he's lying through his teeth," Bearmon added. He stepped between Abby and Barbamon and growled at the evil Digimon.

"I'm getting irritated with all of you interfering with my plans. Little girl, you are coming with me into the Dark Area. As for you, Child of Hope, I've been given orders to destroy you. That radiance of yours is making it difficult to take over the mind of the Child of Light. But I'll deal with you later, come with me little girl," Barbamon said. He reached out one of his massive claws toward Abby but at the last moment, Bearmon stepped in the way and pushed Abby out of Barbamon's way.

"Bearmon!" Abby screamed when she saw her Digimon trapped in the claws of the mega level Digimon. "Let him go!" Bearmon looked down at Abby, pain covering his face. TK recognized the look Bearmon gave Abby; he saw the same look on YukimiBotamon's face when she was destroyed. "Bearmon, hold on. I'll help you!" Abby tried to run to Bearmon but TK pulled her back.

"Abby, let him go. He knows what he's doing. He's giving us time, let's get out of here," TK begged as he pulled Abby away from Barbamon. With one arm around Abby's waist he used his other hand to pull open the metal door.

"TK, let go of me! Bearmon!" Abby screamed as TK pulled her through the door.

As the door slammed shut, TK heard the sound of an explosion coming from the other side. TK continued to drag Abby down the path, away from Barbamon and Bearmon.

"That was close," Patamon sighed when they finally stopped moving. TK let go of Abby and she sunk to her knees sobbing. "Abby, I'm sorry."

"We could have saved him, why didn't you try to save him?" Abby asked TK. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

"Abby, he knew what he was doing. Bearmon knew that the only way to save you was to stand up to Barbamon," TK explained.

"It's just not fair. TK, do you have any idea what this feels like? To see your Digimon destroyed right before your eyes?"

"Yeah, I do. Nine years ago, on my first trip to the Digital World I watched Patamon die trying to save me. We were fighting Devimon and it was his first time Digivolving, he used up all of his energy to destroy Devimon and save me. I know exactly how you're feeling."

"It's a hard thing, to lose someone you care about. But we Digimon have a duty to protect our partners. That's why I didn't think twice about getting in the way of Devimon's attack to save TK. I'm sure the same thing went through YukimiBotamon's mind when she tried to fight Mephistomon," Patamon explained to Abby.

TK nodded in agreement. Pulling Abby to her feet he said, "He'll be back. But right now we have more to deal with. Like how we're going to save the Digital World."


	32. Traitors

Oh I just thought I'd throw in the reminder that I don't own Digimon. That's all. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 32: Traitors

"You're friends are really becoming a nuisance to me," Dragomon yelled. He looked over at Kari, who was sitting huddled in the corner, two heavy chains attached around her ankles bolting her to the wall. "They just won't give up, at this rate they will reach this place and I'll have to deal with them myself."

"When are you going to learn that you won't win this? TK will find me and when he does he's going to kick your slimy rear end," Kari said smugly. Dragomon looked over at Kari, his eyes filled with fury.

"Watch your tongue, brat. How dare you talk to a king that way? You should be thanking me for not destroying your friend earlier." Dragomon made his way over to Kari and looked down at her. "You have no power here, so why do you continue to have hope that you will be saved?"

"Because I know TK, he made me a promise a long time ago and I know he won't break it. So when he does find me, he'll make sure you are turned into a piece of giant sushi," Kari said with a smirk on her face. Dragomon stared at her, a look of hatred and shock on his face.

"Tentacle Claw!" Dragomon used his many tentacles to whip Kari. Crying out in pain, Kari slumped lower to the floor. "Maybe that will teach to respect your superiors." Dragomon left Kari lying on the ground and walked back to his throne. "Susan!"

"Yes, Master?" Susan asked coming out from the shadows.

"Where are the other members of my council? They were supposed to be here by now," Dragomon asked. He fiddled with the string of beads around his neck, twirling then impatiently.

"Well Sir, I believe that Lucemon and Belphemon are already in the council room. I have not heard from either Barbamon or Daemon in quite some time. Would you like me to send out a party to search the castle for them?

"That won't be necessary. You may leave, I have some important business to attend to," Dragomon said. He stood up and walked out of the throne room. Navigating down the zigzagging hall, he stopped in front of a small wooden door. Pushing it open, Dragomon stepped into a large room with seven chairs in it. At the far end of the room, an eighth chair sat, much larger than the other seven. Five of the normal chairs were empty; the only two that were occupied were at the opposite side of the room from Dragomon's chair.

Seating himself in the large chair, Dragomon looked out over the only two Digimon in the room. One of them was Belphemon, who was sitting there looking confused. The other held a very human like Digimon. Resembling Angemon, Lucemon had long blond hair and eight wings coming out of his back. Though, four of them were white angel wings while the other four were black wings like a bat's. He stared straight at Dragomon, a knowing expression on his face. "So, Barbamon was unable to retrieve the Children on Hope and Peace," Lucemon stated. He wasn't asking Dragomon, he knew about Barbamon's failure.

"Lucemon, I don't have time for your sarcasm. Now where is Daemon?" Dragomon demanded.

"No one has seen him. The last time anyone heard from him was when we went after Lilithmon to keep her from doing something stupid," Belphemon said suddenly. Lucemon snickered softly, he knew where Daemon was.

Dragomon noticed Lucemon's laughter. "Is something funny, Lucemon? Maybe you would like to enlighten us on why all of my council members are being destroyed by a couple of children!" Dragomon's voice had risen to a scream and he was glaring at Lucemon with frustration.

"I think you are underestimating the power these children have. The Digital World chose them for a reason. They are not normal humans. And one of them is the Child of Hope; he has more power than the others. Or maybe you have forgotten what the power of Hope is capable of? Wasn't it because of this boy that you lost the Child of Light the first time?" Lucemon said calmly.

"Well Lucemon, if you are so sure of their powers then I leave you in charge of destroying them. Belphemon, go with him and destroy these insects that have entered my castle. You are both dismissed, oh and if you see Daemon or Barbamon tell them I need to speak to them," Dragomon said swiftly. He stood up and walked out of the room without another word.

"Fool, just wait until I get my hands on him," Lucemon hissed. "Come on Belphemon. We have work to do." Lucemon stood up and made his way out of the conference room, Belphemon on his heels.

"I still don't understand what you plan to gain from all of this, Lucemon. What is going against Dragomon going to do for us?" Belphemon asked. Lucemon stopped walking and sighed.

"Because you giant oaf, the power of the Dark Ocean is too much for the spineless fool. Its power would be much better suited for our purposes. Daemon has done an excellent job so far of setting the first pieces to our puzzle. If Daemon succeeded in getting rid of Barbamon then our plans will be almost complete," Lucemon explained tiredly. Belphemon wasn't the most intelligent of the Digimon in their group.

"But what are we going to do about those humans? They won't let us get away with anything like this. They're stronger then they look. That girl was able to stop my dark energy from taking over her mind. Not only that but she protected those friends of hers."

"She's the Child of Light you imbecile. She's the only one with any real power over us, but if we snuff out her light then she will be like putty in our hands. Now let's go find Daemon, he's here somewhere." Lucemon continued to make his way down towards the dungeon, where Daemon was supposed to meet them. He reached a large metal door and shoved it open.

"I was beginning to wonder if you would ever show up, Lucemon," Daemon muttered impatiently. Daemon was leaning against the wall, tapping his claws against the cracked stone. "And brawn for brains, how nice of you to join us."

"Did you finish the job, Daemon?" Belphemon asked impatiently. He crossed his massive arms and stared down at the little bat like Digimon.

"Of course I finished the job. Barbamon didn't know what was coming. Although the little Bearmon threw me off, I wasn't expecting him to be there. I don't know what happened to the little fur-ball; he might have gotten destroyed in the blast. Quite frankly I don't care; we have bigger things to deal with."

"Like where the two remaining children are?" Lucemon interjected.

"They were nowhere in sight when I got here. They must have gone through the door," Daemon yelled in response.

"Then why are we standing around here? Let's go find those brats so I can squeeze the life out of them," Belphemon roared. He punched his fist into the wall, creating a wrecking ball sized hole in the stone.

"Calm yourself Belphemon; you'll have your chance. First we need to deal with Dragomon. He poses the biggest hindrance to our plans," Lucemon said calmly. He pushed a strand of blond hair out of his eyes and seemed to stare into space. "Though, if we let the humans fight Dragomon we may kill two birds with one stone. It will be a fight to the death and by the time a winner is declared both sides will be exhausted. That will be our time to strike, when both sides are at their weakest. That fool Dragomon won't see it coming," Lucemon said, a smile creeping on his lips.

"Do you think that'll work, Lucemon? What if Dragomon expects us to help him fight the humans when they reach the throne room? And you're forgetting Susan. If she catches a whiff of what's going on, she'll report it to Dragomon and we'll be finished. Dragomon will send us back to the Dark Area like he did to Beelzemon," Belphemon whimpered. Lucemon rolled his eyes at Belphemon's fear.

"Susan has no free will; she only does what Dragomon tells her. She could be standing right in front of you and not do anything. So as long as Dragomon doesn't suspect anything then we won't have to worry about him," Daemon told Belphemon.

"Exactly, now we should be on our way. Dragomon will be expecting us back soon. He was in quite the furious mood today when you didn't show up to the council meeting," Lucemon said with a smirk.

Lucemon gracefully walked towards the metal door and reached out a gloved hand to pull it open but stopped. His eyes were fixated on a symbol on the door, a symbol he had never noticed before. It was a little more than halfway down the length of the door and for some reason popped out at Lucemon for that instant.

"What now, Lucemon? Didn't you just say we had to start heading back?" Daemon asked impatiently. Lucemon waved his hand, telling Daemon to stop talking. He crouched down to eye level with the symbol and touched it gently with his hand.

"Now this is interesting. I've looked at this door a million times and I've never noticed this before. Both of you come here and look at this." Daemon and Belphemon stepped closer to the door and peered at the symbol Lucemon was pointing at.

"What is that?" Belphemon asked.

"Well I'll be; it's the symbol of despair. Now what purpose would that have on here?" Daemon inquired. "It looks like the Child of Hope will have an unfortunate incident."

"What is this thing anyway? Some kind of prophesy door?" Belphemon asked.

"Exactly. Well, a little more than that. It gives a history of the Digital World's war with the Dark Ocean. At the end there are prophesies and if they come true then the symbols will become forever set in the stone. The door changes all of the time, based on decisions and outcomes of the war. The symbol of despair is something quite new. Its appearance means that Child of Hope has a chance of falling into darkness. If that happens then we will have a tool that is just as powerful as the Child of Light," Lucemon explained. Another evil smile crept up his lips. "I believe all he needs is a push in the right direction and he will be ours."

"Don't you mean a push in the wrong direction?" Belphemon remarked. A low laugh rumbled from deep within him. Lucemon's head snapped up and he stared at him.

"Shut up you giant oaf," Daemon said, disgust lining his voice. "Let's go, if this prophesy is going to come true we have a great deal of work to do." Lucemon nodded and stood up. Pulling the door open he walked through and disappeared into the shadows. Daemon followed soon after. Belphemon stood there for a few moments, trying to process what had just occurred.

"I thought that was rather funny," he mumbled. Shrugging, he followed his teammates through the door.


	33. Rescue

**It's 12:33 and I'm posting my third chapter for the year. Enjoy :)

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**Chapter 33: Rescue

Kari slowly opened her eyes. She wasn't sure if what she was feeling was real, pain was screaming through her entire body and even breathing was proving to be a challenge. Ignoring the pain, Kari opened her eyes the rest of the way and tried to lift her head.

The sight before her was something she only imagined in her worse nightmares. She was alone in a cold dark room; no light came in except from a small lamp that sat on the floor next to her. Kari tried to push herself up but after moving a few inches she fell back down the ground. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Kari asked weakly. When she got no answer, Kari knew that she was on her own.

"Now what am I going to do? TK is in danger and it's all my fault," Kari sobbed. As she sat alone on the ground, tears began to stream down her face. "TK, please be all right. If anything happened to you I don't know if I would be able to live with myself," Kari muttered between sobs. As she cried, the memory of what Dragomon told her played in her head like a movie.

"Your friends are becoming a nuisance to me," Dragomon's voice rang out. As Kari remembered what he said, her head snapped up. Had he said your friends?

"TK, is there someone else with you? But Scott is gone; who could he be fighting with?" Kari wondered aloud.

"With my partner," a scratchy voice said from the other side of the door in the room. "You must be Kari. TK is looking everywhere for you."

"Who are you? Where's TK? Is he all right?" Kari asked rapidly. Ignoring her pain, Kari jumped up and ran over to the door. There was no window in it, so Kari couldn't see who was talking to her.

"He's fine. And he'll be glad to hear you're OK as well. I heard you crying and I thought it might be my partner so I came over. Boy am I glad I did."

"Who are you?" Kari asked again. The voice didn't sound like anyone she knew.

"Hold on, let me get rid of this door, then we can go find our friends. You better stand back. Bear Claw!" Kari dove out of the way of the door just as it shattered in to several pieces. As dust cloud filled the air and Kari coughed as she tried to see who her rescuer was. Standing in the doorway was a small Digimon that Kari had never seen before. "Hi there, the name's Bearmon. It's great to meet you, Kari. Though I wish the circumstances were a little bit better. Come on, let's go find TK and Abby," Bearmon said happily.

"One problem, I can barely walk and we have no idea where TK is. I don't have the strength to go looking all over the castle for him," Kari argued. Bearmon sighed and tapped the side of his face in thought.

"Here, I'll help you," Bearmon said after a few moments. He stood up on two legs and slowly made his way over to Kari. He took her hand in his paw and let her lean against him. "I can't go very fast on two legs so I bet it'll be the perfect pace for you. Now come on, if we don't hurry Abby and TK could be in danger," Bearmon said as they made their way out of the cell.

"I know; Dragomon is going to destroy them." Bearmon looked at her, confusion in his face.

"Dragomon? I'm talking about Daemon. He's betraying his own team. I was there; he destroyed one of his own. I was able to get away but his teammate wasn't so lucky. I don't know how many of them are working together but it could mean big trouble for the rest of us. I have to get to Abby, she needs me now more than ever," Bearmon panted.

"Abby? Scott said his sister's name was Abby. How exactly did you and Abby get here anyway?" Kari asked.

"No time to explain. But you're right; Abby is Scott's younger sister. Now we have to go find her; wherever she is, TK won't be far away." Kari said nothing in reply, her thoughts were running wild with fear of what would happen to TK if they didn't' find him in time. "Hold on a minute. Don't move," Bearmon whispered suddenly. He let go of Kari and slowly peaked his head around a corner. A split second later he snapped back, fear dancing in his eyes. "We've got trouble, this way." Bearmon grabbed Kari again and half dragged her down the way they had just come.

After taking several turns, Bearmon finally came to a stop. "What was it, Bearmon?" Kari asked, out of breath. Bearmon looked around for a few moments before answering.

"It was Dragomon's eyes and ears for this entire castle. The human girl he has under his control. I don't know her name but I've seen her before. The human with a crest that somehow glows dark light."

"Susan! Susan was back there? We have to go back and help her. If she's under Dragomon's control then her life is in danger. Who knows what all that darkness will do to her. She never asked for this, she didn't even know about our world until just a few days ago," Kari cried. Hearing about her friend made her heart ache; she knew that she failed in helping Susan and that it was up to her to get her back.

"We don't have time, Kari. Once we defeat Dragomon, then Susan will be returned to her normal self. Now come on, if Susan is down here then we have to be especially careful because it means…" Bearmon was cut off by the appearance of a Digimon. "One of the council members isn't far behind," he muttered.

"Well it seems we have a little mouse scurrying in our castle. It's a pleasure to meet you Child of Light. I have heard a great deal about you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lucemon, servant to the mighty forces of the worlds," Lucemon said. He bowed low and smiled wickedly at Kari and Bearmon. "I must say, you have much more power than I thought and to think you are a mere child." Kari scowled at Lucemon.

"Well this child just wants to find her friends and go home. So why don't you show me where they are and then point us in the right direction to go back to reality," Kari said sharply. Lucemon smiled and then began to laugh. It was cold had no hint of kindness in it.

"I'm afraid that you will never be allowed to leave. You are the key in getting what we want; and we would never dream of letting such a valuable treasure slip through our fingers.'

"And what is it exactly that you want?" Bearmon growled. He stared at Lucemon with hard eyes, unblinking and unafraid.

"Power naturally. Why would we let darkness as strong as the Dark Ocean be in the hands of a weak and spineless fool like Dragomon? My colleagues and I plan on destroying him and taking over rule of the Dark Ocean. Then we will lead a full on invasion of the Digital World and it will be consumed in darkness!" Lucemon threw his arms into the air and laughed evilly. Kari felt Bearmon shudder in fear next to her and a strange feeling grew inside of her. She was sick and tired of having to fight these evil Digimon that wanted to destroy something as beautiful and pure as the Digital World.

Someone had to stand up to the darkness, and it had to be her. After all, hers was the power of light. She was the greatest enemy to the darkness. "You won't get away with this," Kari said sharply. Lucemon stopped laughing and looked down at Kari. He raised an eyebrow and snickered.

"Is that so? And what exactly are you going to do about it? You have no Digimon, no allies, and no hope." Lucemon replied flatly.

"That's where you're wrong. It's true you may have taken Gatomon away from me physically, but she's always with me. And I have my friends; they're all waiting for me to come home safely. And I have my family, and I know in the bottom of my heart that they will always love me and they want me to come home safely as well.

"And as long as I have my friends and my family I'll always have hope. Hope is the one thing that no one will ever be able to take from me. It's what makes my light shine, the hope I have in my heart. That's something you'll never be able to understand, hope. It was ripped from your heart long ago, because of your desire for power," Kari finished her lecture, looking Lucemon straight in the eyes. The evil Digimon seemed bewildered. No one had ever stood up to him like that before, most cowered in fear at the very sound of his name.

"I must say, little human, you have spunk. I admire that and I also look forward to crushing it out of you. The feisty ones are always the most fun to send into the darkness because of the fight they put up. Now it's time to go, you have a date that you don't want to be late for. Chaos Sphere!" From Lucemon's hands two spheres materialized, one of light and the other of darkness. Lucemon dropped both of them on the ground and they began to grow.

Kari saw what was happening and pushed Bearmon out of the way, just as the sphere of light enveloped her. Bearmon watched in fear as Kari vanished from sight in the blinding light. Then the sphere of darkness began to grow and it too encased Kari in its glows. "Bearmon, find TK. Tell him that everything will be OK," Kari said weakly before she screamed in pain. The combination of light and darkness was too much for her to handle.

"I hope you enjoy nothingness, because you will experience nothing besides it for the rest of eternity!" Lucemon cackled. Kari took one last look at Bearmon and nodded. Bearmon saw the look in her eyes and knew what it meant. He turned on his heels and ran as fast as his paws could carry him. "Now, feel the power of darkness!" Kari couldn't take the opposing forces anymore and she felt herself slowly fade into nothingness.

The orbs of light and darkness vanished and Kari was left lying on the ground. Lucemon smiled and walked over to Kari. He bent down and picked her up and carried her out of the corridor. The bait was set and now he just had to wait for the pray to come. "Lucemon, everything is set," Daemon muttered as Lucemon walked past him.

"Excellent. We have the final piece right here. Now all we must do is wait for him to come. Despair will come and darkness will reign from it." Lucemon created an orb of darkness and trapped Kari within it. The orb floated just above Lucemon's head but he was still able to reach it.

"What of the other little Digimon? The one that was with the Child of Light, should we be concerned about him?" Daemon asked an air of concern in his voice.

"I doubt it, the chances of him finding the other humans in time is unlikely. But we don't have time to go and find him so let's just continue with the preparations. Our guests of honor should be arriving soon anyway. Perhaps we should call for Dragomon. I sure he wouldn't want to miss the show."

"He's on his way, along with his little tag-along friend. Our goal is almost in our grasp, I can feel it."


	34. Despair

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Ok here's the last chapter I'm posting for the night. And a quick question to all of you. Do you want me to post the last two chapters up at the same time or space them out a little bit? I'll do whatever you guys prefer so let me know ok? Review or PM I don't care either way. Enjoy the chapter.

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Chapter 34: Despair

TK's heart was pounding as he ran. Every step caused another explosion of pain in his chest but he pushed forward. He was almost to Kari and nothing was going to stop him now. Behind him Abby was panting, trying to keep up with his pace. "TK, we need to stop. Being exhausted isn't the best way to fight the king of darkness," Abby panted. TK slowed down to a jog and he heard a sigh of relief from Abby. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry Abby. I just need to get to Kari. She's in danger and I can't rest until I bring her home safe and sound. If I didn't her brother would kill me." Abby smiled at TK's determination and kept jogging. Then, ahead of them, Abby saw it. The door to Dragomon's throne room loomed over them, a large but very plain metal door with nothing on it but an old rusty handle. "TK, we made it! That's where Dragomon's throne is!"

"TK skidded to a stop and looked up at the door. "This is it? I would have thought something a little flashier from a king," Patamon muttered. TK smiled and patter Patamon on the head.

"Well, this is it. I'll bet anything Dragomon is waiting for us on the other side of that door. Are you ready buddy? It's time to digivolve!"

"Patamon Digivolve to…Angemon! Hand of Fate!" Angemon smashed the door in half and it went flying into the middle of the room. TK and Abby ran into the throne room to see the largest room they had ever seen it their lives. Columns lined the sides of the room, with drapes hanging from each of them. On the back wall, seven columns stood, each with its own flag on it. In front of this line of columns, there was a large chair. In that chair sat the king himself, Dragomon.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking? You just ruined a perfectly good door," Dragomon muttered tiredly.

"Where's Kari?" TK yelled across the room. He was in no mood for small talk or mind games. Dragomon snickered and stood up from his throne. Slowly he made his way over to TK and looked down at him.

"My, aren't we the impatient one? If you want to see your friend, look into the portal over there," Dragomon said coldly. He pointed a tentacle at a small glowing portal in the corner of the room. TK cautiously made his way over to the portal and peered into it. At first he couldn't see anything but soon a picture became clear. It was the image of a small room where three Digimon stood. In the middle of them there was some sort of glowing black orb.

As TK looked closer at the image before him, he noticed that there was something inside the orb. A person, whoever it was, was inside of it and they were not moving. Then TK realized who he was looking at. He saw something very familiar hanging around the person's neck, a small whistle on a faded string. "Kari!" TK yelled at the top of his lungs. He snapped around and glared at Dragomon. "What did you do to her?" TK practically growled.

"What does it look like? She's in the darkness now. The Child of Light is lost forever. She ran her mouth too much, so I banished her into the deepest part of the Dark Area," Dragomon said with a laugh. Abby looked at TK, her eyes wide with fear and sadness. After all their work, they were too late.

"Kari, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to protect you. Please forgive me," TK sobbed. Without Kari in his life, TK had no reason to hope. Everything was gone from him; it felt like the light in his heart had completely run out.

"TK, you can't give up yet. We still have to defeat Dragomon," Angemon yelled. TK could barely hear his voice; darkness was beginning to consume him. "Hand of Fate!" Angemon tried to attack Dragomon, but the Digimon was too fast. He sidestepped out of the way of his attack. As Angemon tried to fight, Abby ran over to TK.

TK had fallen to his knees, and a dark aura was beginning to form around him. Abby grabbed his shoulders and tried to get his attention. "TK, TK snap out of it. Angemon needs you, you can't let him down. TK!" Abby shook TK violently but he didn't respond. Abby looked over her shoulder to see how Angemon was holding up. Every time he got neat Dragomon, he unleashed another attack that pushed the angel farther away.

"She's gone; my reason to hope is gone. There's nothing left now," TK whispered. The farther TK sunk into darkness, the stronger the aura around him grew. Soon it was pitch black and Abby could barely see TK. From behind her, Abby heard a cry of pain. Angemon had fallen to the ground and the same strange aura was starting to form around him.

"TK, Angemon needs you. The darkness in your heart is hurting him. He can't fight Dragomon anymore!" Abby screamed. Angemon cried out in pain again and he was smothered in the darkness. As the darkness faded away, a different Digimon was in his place. One that Abby had seen before. Pure black in color, the Digimon looked a great deal like Angemon. His wings were broken and torn and two large horns grew out of his head. His eyes had become blazing red and a wicked smile was on his lips.

"It is finished. Welcome Child of Despair," Dragomon said wickedly. "With the arrival of the Dark Messenger, all light had been turned into darkness. Darkness will now reign over all and the light will forever be snuffed out!"

"Too bad you won't be around to see it," a sinister voice called from the doorway. All eyes turned to see Daemon standing there. Lucemon and Belphemon were right behind him, with knowing looks on their faces. "Dragomon, we've decided that you aren't fit to rule the darkness."

"So, Devimon, will you please send this king back into the Dark Area again?" Belphemon asked. Devimon didn't answer, instead he picked up Dragomon and a red glow shone from his hands. Dragomon looked back at his former council and his eyes filled with fear. A final scream filled the room and Dragomon was gone. Abby stared in fear and wonder at the sheer power of Devimon but then her attention was turned back to the other three Digimon still in the room.

"This is bad," Abby muttered. Abby didn't notice that TK had stood up and was making his way over to the three evil Digimon. "TK, there has to be some way to reach you."

"Bear Claw!" Belphemon winced in pain as he was attacked from behind.

"Bearmon?" Abby wondered. From behind Belphemon, Abby could see the furry outline of her best friend. "Bearmon, you're alive!"

"Hey Abbs, we'll have time for reunions later. I need to Digivolve!" Bearmon yelled across the room. Abby pulled out her Digivice and Bearmon began to Digivolve. "Bearmon Warp Digivolve to…Callismon! Rodeo Bullet!" Callismon shot hundreds of bullets at Belphemon, Daemon and Lucemon. Lucemon and Daemon jumped out of the way at the last second, but Belphemon wasn't as lucky. As the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the giant Digimon.

"You'll pay for that, you overstuffed teddy bear," Lucemon hissed. "Paradise lost punch!" Lucemon flew at Callismon and unleashed a flurry of powerful punches, when he was done he kicked Callismon to fell straight to his knees.

"Callismon fight back! You're our only hope now! You can do it, I believe in you!" Abby cried as she ran to her Digimon.

"Abby stay back. It's too dangerous," Bearmon growled. Lucemon smiled and lifted Callismon, despite his massive size, and threw him across the room. Callismon crashed into the wall, leaving nothing but rubble in its place.

While Lucemon was dealing with Callismon and Abby, TK had reached Devimon and was now standing next to his Fallen Angel Digimon. "Devimon, what should we do now?" TK asked in a raspy voice. The darkness had taken over his body and he had no idea what his life was like before the darkness had settled in.

"Ice Archery!" From nowhere dozens of ice arrows shot through the air and began pelting Devimon and TK. "Ice Archery!"

"That's it Crescemon, show that overgrown bat who's the boss!" a female voice called out. Devimon and TK turned their attention to where the voice and attack had come from and running into the throne room was Crescemon. Followed by two girls, one of them supporting the other.

"Susan, I can't destroy them. I might hurt TK," Crescemon called back to her human.

"There has to be a way. Kari, what should we do?" Susan asked her friend. Kari looked up weakly at Devimon and TK.

"TK's heart has been consumed by the darkness; I don't know what we can do. I don't have enough strength to try and bring him back," Kari mumbled softly. Things were happening to fast for her to process, one minute she was sitting in nothingness and the next Susan was shaking her awake and Lunamon was with her.

"There is no hope left. Your world will fall into the darkness and there's nothing you can do to stop me," TK cackled. Kari saw the evil look in his eyes and knew that she might be too late to save him.

"Susan, let me go. I have to try and reach TK. I might be able to pull him out of the darkness, I was able to before." Susan reluctantly let go of Kari and watched as she limped toward TK. TK stopped laughing and watched Kari with interest.

"Crescemon, make sure Devimon doesn't do anything sneaky," Susan called to her Digimon. Kari kept moving toward TK, ignoring the sounds of the battle around her. Every fiber in her body was focused on reaching TK. After what seemed like an eternity, Kari was able to reach him.

Kari took hold of his hand and looked into his eyes. As she had suspected, she saw nothing but that didn't mean that something wasn't there. "TK, TK I know you're in there somewhere? Can you hear me?" Kari whispered. TK didn't seem fazed by her presence. In fact, he didn't seem to be focusing on anything. It was like his mind was somewhere else. "Please TK, come back to me. We need you, I need you."

As Kari stared into his eyes, she thought she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Maybe she would be able to get through. As Kari continued to plead for TK to come back, he was having a war within his own mind.

"Kari? Kari, is that you?" TK called out in a weak voice. All around him there was nothingness. The place he was in was devoid of any sort of light.

"Kari is gone. You saw her lifeless body remember? You're hope is all gone, she left you alone in this cold dark world," a harsh voice boomed. It came from everywhere at once and TK cowered in fear at the sound of it. "All you have left is despair. Despair and agony are your only allies now."

"But I thought I heard her voice. Maybe Dragomon lied, maybe she is alive," TK replied to nothingness. The voice began to laugh.

"Is that what you think? Pitiful, even if she was back for now she won't be back forever. Everything must return to nothingness at some point and you will be alone." TK shuddered at the thought, but he knew that was true.

"TK, are you going to let this block head try and trick you? When Kari needs you now more than ever? You should be ashamed TK. It's not like you to give up hope," an incredibly familiar voice rang out. TK looked down at his feet to see a pair of warm blue eyes.

"Gatomon? How is this possible? You were destroyed," TK stammered.

Gatomon rolled her eyes, but smiled at TK. Her eyes shone with the same radiance that they did before she was destroyed. "TK, this is where Digimon go until they are reborn. You are in the In-between, a place where data is stored until it can be resorted. When you're heart was over taken by the darkness, you're real mind went here," Gatomon said with a smile on her face.

"Gatomon, you have no idea how much Kari has missed you," TK said rapidly. He bent down and picked up the little cat. "But she's been so strong this entire time. You would be proud of her."

"I am proud of her. I've seen the things she's done. And you've done a good job protecting her. I can't thank you enough," Gatomon purred.

"But, isn't she lost in the darkness? I saw her; there was no life in her."

"You're wrong TK. If she was gone, I wouldn't be here. Dragomon tricked you. He knew that of you thought Kari was gone you're light would break and you'd fall into darkness. He used Kari as bait to lure into the darkness. Now she's on the outside world trying to bring you back. You have to go back there, and help stop this battle. If you go back, Angemon will come back as well."

"Angemon? What happened to him? Is he all right?" TK asked, panic growing in him. Gatomon nodded and looked TK straight in the eyes.

"When you fell into darkness, the same thing happened to Angemon. And when an Angemon falls into darkness, they become Devimon. But when you come back, Angemon will return as good as new." TK nodded and put Gatomon down on the ground.

"Are you coming back with me Gatomon? We could use your help." TK asked in hope.

Gatomon shook her head in sadness. "I can't TK; Digimon eggs can't be brought into other worlds. When the time comes, I'll come back. Until then, take care of Kari for me," Gatomon said with sadness in her voice. "Just follow the sound of Kari's voice and you'll get back OK." TK nodded and began to run. He heard Kari's melodic voice calling out to him and he picked up his pace. The faster he ran, the cleared Kari's voice got. So it was like she was whispering in his ears. TK snapped his eyes open, and there she was.


	35. Defeated

***SOBS* the second to last chapter. I just want to say thank you everyone for sticking with me for 35 chapters. It's a been a lot of fun working on this and sharing the adventure with you. The final battle has come so for just a little bit longer I hope you all are willing to come with me and the Digidestined. And also a huge thank you to an anymuous reviewer who calls themself Warriorkaala. If you read this i just want to let you know how much your review meant to me. Thank you so much, thank you all so much. I wouldn't write if it wasn't for people out there who actually like to read it. Without readers a writer is just a person who talks to themselves. You readers are the ones who make what I do worthwhile. **Chapter 35: Defeated

* * *

TK re-shut his eyes and opened them again to make sure it wasn't a dream. Kari really was there, standing in front of him. Her chocolate brown eyes were stained with tears but there was a smile on her face. "Kari? Am I dead?" TK mumbled. Kari shook her head and embraced TK in a giant hug. TK returned the hug and looked up at his Digimon. As Gatomon said, Angemon was back to his normal self.

"TK, I'm so glad you're OK. I was worried about you," Kari sobbed. "I thought I was going to lose you to the darkness."

"Um guys, I know you missed each other and everything but we have a bigger situation on our hands," Susan called out. TK and Kari looked up to see Callismon still trying to stand up to Lucemon and Daemon.

TK watched in shock at the battle before him. No matter what happened, he couldn't let the darkness win. There were too many people counting on them to win this battle. "That's it. This has gone on long enough. Angemon! Let's show these clowns what happens when you mess with the Digidestined! Digivolve!" A brilliant yellow light shone from TK's Digivice and it enveloped Angemon. The Digidestined all shielded their eyes from the intensity of the light.

"Angemon Warp Digivolve to…Seraphimon." In the place of Angemon; there stood a majestic angel Digimon. Ten golden wings folded against his back. A helmet covered his head and there was heavy blue and silver armor protecting most of his body. "Daemon, why don't you fight me?" the angel called out. Daemon stopped attacking and looked at Seraphimon with a judgmental eye.

"I accept your challenge, angel of the light," Daemon roared. He flew forward and soon he and Seraphimon were locked in combat. On the other side of the room, Callismon was having a difficult time fighting Lucemon.

"Crescemon go help out!" Susan called. The rabbit warrior nodded and jumped over to assist in the fight. From the midst of the fight, Abby appeared. She ran over to TK and panted heavily.

"It's pretty crazy out there. Let's hope the Digimon are powerful enough to defeat these two," she muttered.

"So you're Abby? Bearmon told me about you. You're Scott's sister," Kari said in wonder. She was shocked at the similarities between them. Abby looked at Kari and grinned.

"We can get all the formal introduction stuff over later on. Right now, we have a battle to win," Abby said with a smile on her face.

"Oh no! Crescemon!" Susan cried out suddenly. Kari and Susan looked over to see that Lucemon had thrown Crescemon to the ground and was defenseless against any attack. "Crescemon!" As Susan screamed out her partner's name, a purple light shone from her Digivice and the same light covered Crescemon.

"Crescemon Digivolve to…Dianamon!" The rabbit Digimon had vanished and in her place was a much more human like Digimon. She was covered in white armor except for a slit in her helmet. Crystal blue eyes shone and reflected off of the double bladed staff she gripped in her hand. "Your time has come, Lucemon. Arrow of Artemis!" Dianamon pulled out one of the arrows she had on her back and flung it straight for Lucemon's heart. The fallen angel Digimon had no chance, the arrow pierced right through him and he vanished into a millions pieces of data.

"Did we just win?" Susan asked softly. Before anyone was able to answer, an explosion erupted from above them. Everyone looked up to see Seraphimon and Daemon still locked in combat.

"Strike of the Seven Stars!" Seraphimon summoned seven glowing orbs at Daemon and shot one after the other at him. Each orb collided into Daemon's chest and he was thrown to the ground.

"If you think this is the end pitiful humans, you're wrong. I shall return and when I do you will all be destroyed," Daemon threatened weakly. Then he vanished into bits of data that flew up towards the sky.

For a few moments everyone stood there, unsure if what just happened was real or not. Seraphimon came to the ground and stood next to TK. Callismon and Dianamon made their way over to the others and stood tiredly. Just then in a flash of light the Digimon Di-Digivolved into their in-training forms. Tokamon, Moonmon and Wanyamon all sat on the ground looking exhausted. Each of their partners picked up their Digimon and hugged them close.

"Well, now that the world is safe, can we go home?" Susan asked. She looked over at TK and Kari and knew the answer. "So how do we get back to the Digital World?"

"Dragomon made several gates all throughout the Dark Ocean. There's bound to be one here in the castle. All we have to do is find it," Wanyamon said hopefully.

"It's actually a bit more complicated than that Wanyamon," Abby countered. "Dragomon didn't create direct gates to the Digital World. They're more like holes through the world dividers. If we go through one, it could take us anywhere. We have to find a different way through."

TK looked at Kari, whose face was set in thought. "Kari, what is it?" he asked. Kari held up her hand to silence him and took a few steps away from the others.

"Does she do this often?" Abby whispered to Susan. Kari then spun back around, excitement in her eyes.

"Ken," she said simply. Abby and Susan looked confused but TK's eyes also shone with understanding.

"That's a great idea Kari. But, how do we get in touch with him? And we don't even know if he'll be able to re-open the gate. It took all of us to help him open it the first time," TK replied sadly.

"First we should at least try to reach the others, I bet they're all worried about us," Tokamon said looking up at TK.

"I don't think any of us have our D-Tectors. Scott had TK's right before we were brought here but…" Kari's voice trailed off at the thought of Scott.

"I have my cell phone," Susan replied. She pulled out the small phone and showed it to the others. "I don't know if it'll work here but we can try. Susan handed the phone to Kari who opened it up and frantically began pressing buttons.

Everyone looked over Kari's shoulder to see what she was typing. "I'm going to send an e-mail to Ken. I just hope he has his D-Tector on him," Kari said as she shut the phone. Seconds later the room was filled with a ringing sound. "It's Ken! He got the e-mail!" Kari cried happily.

"Read it! What did he say?" Moonmon asked excitedly. Kari opened the phone and began to scan the words on the screen. As she read, her face began to change from excitement to sadness.

"He can't. Ken said there is no way for him to open the Dark Gate," Kari told the others sadly. She watched as their faces fell and realized she was frowning too. Then, the phone rang again and Kari flipped it open. Her eyes skimmed over the words and excitement was growing on her face every passing second. "Guys! It's a message from Gennai! He said he found a way for all of us to go home! We need to stand on Dragomon's throne platform!" Kari cried. She had barely finished her sentence and the others had all taken off running towards the giant chair.

"Now what? How do we get home?" Moonmon asked. Kari looked back down at the phone and read what Gennai had instructed them to do.

"It says here that we need to all join hands and visualize the Digital World and he will take care of the rest," Kari read. She shut the phone and handed it back to Susan. She stuffed it in her pocket and grabbed hands with Kari and Abby. TK took hold of Kari and Abby's hands. Each of the three Digimon held on to their partners hands to the best of their ability.

"Here we go guys, back to File Island," TK said. There was a bright flash of light and the Digidestined felt themselves fly through a corridor of light. Soon, the feeling of flying stopped and there was a feeling of nothingness.

"Well, welcome back my young friends," a voice rang out. Standing on the top of a hill was Gennai. Behind him were the other Digidestined.

"Guys," Kari said happily. "We made it back!" The others all looked around, taking everything in.

"Kari!" Kari turned to see her brother running down the hill to her. Kari grinned ear to ear and ran to meet her brother.

"Tai!" She cried. Kari met her brother in the middle of the hill and threw her arms around his neck. "Tai, we're back." Kari felt her brother's strong arms around her and she knew that their nightmare was over. Kari didn't notice Matt run past them to meet TK. As unusual as it was for Matt to show such strong emotions, he hugged his brother and practically refused to let go.

"Matt, you're squishing me. Matt, I can't breathe," TK coughed. Matt loosened his grip and grinned at his brother.

"Sorry bro, you had us scared. We're just glad to see you're all OK."

"Hey Gabumon, long time no see," Tokamon said to the blue wolf next to Matt. Gabumon smiled and patter Tokamon on the head.

"Good to see you too little guy. Looks like you guys had a rough time out there,"

"Kari!" Everyone looked up to see Davis running down the hill towards them. But, in normal Davis fashion, he tripped and rolled down the hill. The only thing that stopped his fall was Matt and Gabumon. Soon the three of them were lying on the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. One by one all of the Digidestined greeted Kari, TK and Susan. Then, naturally, they asked a million questions to Abby about who she was and where Scott was.

"Perhaps it would be best if we give them some time to rest and then we can all hear the whole story," Gennai interjected. Everyone backed away from Kari, TK, Susan and Abby and watched as the four of them walked away from the rest of the group.

As they walked away TK whispered to Kari, "We need to talk." Kari nodded and the two of the split off from the others. When they were sure they were out of Tai and Matt's sight. TK took a hold of Kari's hand and they ran to the edge of the forest.

"Is something wrong TK?" Kari asked when they stopped running. TK shook his head and sat down on the ground and patted down on the soft grass where he wanted Kari to sit. She sat down on the cool grass and looked at TK. "TK, what is it? You can tell me anything."

TK looked everywhere but at Kari; the ground, the sky, the trees behind her, finally he looked into her eyes. "I saw Gatomon," he said. Kari looked confused for a moment and then smiled. That threw TK off; he thought she would be upset or confused.

"What did she say? She's the one who let you come back to me, isn't she?" Kari said with a smile.

"She told me how proud of you she was. And that she'll be back very soon."

"Nothing she hasn't told me so far. All right, thank you TK, it means a lot to me that you told me." Kari leaned forward and gave TK a kiss. She was so happy to have him back, at this moment she didn't care who saw them.

"We should be getting back, the others might think we fell through another gate," TK said after a few seconds. Kari drew her head away from TK and frowned. "Oh please don't make that face. Frowning doesn't look good on you." TK ticked Kari and she couldn't keep a straight face. She broke out into laughter and soon TK stopped. "That's better, that's the beautiful Kari face I know. Come on, we have to get back." TK stood up and then lifted Kari to her feet. Kari clung to TK's arm for most of the walk back, it was only when she heard the sound of her brother's voice did she let go.

"There they are. What took you two so long?" Yolei called when she saw TK and Kari.

"Are you guys going to fill us in on what happened when that giant Digimon transported you away or not?" Matt asked impatiently. He was sitting cross legged on the ground next to Izzy and Mimi.

"Yeah we're telling you," TK grumbled. He and Kari sat down next to Abby and Susan and began telling the story of what happened since they last saw the others. The other Digidestined hung on every word, hardly making a sound. When they got to the part about Scott most of the others bawled their eyes out. Hours later, long after the sun had set their story was complete.

"I-I'm at a loss of words; the things you all had to go through. I wish we could have been of more help to you," Cody said. The other Digidestined and Digimon nodded in agreement. None of them could have put in any better themselves.

"But what about Liollmon? You guys left him there!" Davis interjected.

"Davis, he didn't want to come with us. He said that he would be useless to us without Scott. When the battle was over there wasn't time to search the entire castle for him. He's gone, and there's not much we can do about it now," TK replied. He wanted to go back and find Liollmon but there was just no way that they could.

"But Liollmon…" Davis repeated.

"Davis, we couldn't bring him back with us. I know it's hard but that's the way things like this work. Not everyone comes home," Kari said sadly.

"I was going to say; Liollmon is there." Davis pointed to two figures walking over the hill. One of them was Liollmon and next to him was a boy with red hair.

"Scott!" Kari and Susan yelled. They both jumped up and ran to their friend. Scott didn't see them coming and ended up being knocked over by their combined weight. Kari and Susan hugged the daylights out of Scott until he started coughing, indicating that he couldn't breathe.

"It's so great to see the two of you. You have no idea what I've been through. Susan, you look normal again," Scott coughed as he sat up. Susan smiled and ran her hand through her once again blond hair. Kari noticed Liollmon standing there and gave the lion cub a hug as well.

"Come on, you can tell all of us by the campsite. And, there's someone who wants to see you," Susan said playfully. She grabbed Scott's arm and led him down the hill back to the campsite.

All of the Digidestined greeted Scott with open arms and there was a lot of hugging and people saying welcome back. The very last person to say or do anything was Abby. She sat on the ground, watching as the others talked to Scott. When the others settled down, she got up and stood in front of Scott. "It's great to see you, Scottie," Abby finally said. Scott looked at the young teen before him and seemed bewildered by her presence.

"Abbs?" Scott whispered. Abby nodded and threw her arms around her brother. Scott stood there for a few seconds but then returned the hug. Neither of them moved for quite a while. "Abby, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you; I should have gone with you. I should have…"

Abby put her hand over Scott's mouth. "Stop talking. It wasn't your time to travel to the Digital World. I had Bearmon with me the whole time. I was never in any danger, so don't blame yourself for any of this. If anything it was my fault for not trying to contact you and mom and dad to let you know I was all right. How are mom and dad?"

"We'll talk about that later. Right now why don't we all just relax and figure out what we're going to do next," Scott said with a smile. He let go of Abby, but she still kept a tight grip on his arm. As if she was afraid that if she let go, Scott would leave again.

"Scott, how did you get here anyway? TK and Kari told us you were attacked by Lilithmon. How did you survive?" Sora asked as Scott and Abby sat on the ground.

"I don't really know, one moment I'm sitting in darkness and then I hear this voice. It sounded kind of familiar so I listened to it as it told me about how everyone has a purpose in the Digital World and being in the darkness wasn't mine. They also said that it will take time for me to learn the true power of the crest, and then they asked me if I wanted to fulfill my destiny and return to the Digital World.

"Naturally I said yes and there was this bright light. The next thing I know, I'm sitting next to Liollmon. We started wandering around the castle and somehow end up in a destroyed throne room. I was checking out the throne itself when there was this light and the next thing I know; I'm here in the Digital World."

"And we were quite lucky that we found you all so soon," Liollmon added in. The lion cub rested his head on his paws and shut his eyes. Scott reached over and scratched his friend behind the ear.

"It looks like the whole gang is back together again. This is great!" Joe exclaimed. Twenty eight pairs of eyes all fixated themselves on Joe. His eyes opened wide as soon as he realized what he said. "Oh man. Sorry guys, I guess not everybody," Joe apologized. He looked up at Kari and said, "Kari I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. Honestly."

Kari looked at Joe, and then at each of her friends. Each one of them had an apologetic look on their faces. Kari felt tears building in her eyes and she swiftly stood up. "I'll be back," Kari said abruptly. Without waiting for the others to respond, Kari walked away from the others. TK and Tai looked at each other and Tai nodded at TK.

TK then got up and ran after Kari. The rest of the group watched as he faded into the shadows. "Joe…" Gomomon said sadly.

TK quickly found Kari; she was walking down the path along the tree line. She didn't seem to notice TK come up behind her, so when she did realize he was there she jumped in the air. "TK, what are you doing here?" Kari asked.

"Going off alone is what gets you in trouble here, remember? Joe didn't mean anything by what he said. You know that…"

"I know, TK. And I'll know Gatomon will come back soon but her not being here is still hard. She should be here celebrating with us; we wouldn't have been able to win if it wasn't for her," Kari began to sob. TK didn't say anything; he simply pulled her into a hug and let her cry. Soon, even TK felt the tears flow free from his eyes. They rolled down his face and fell into Kari's auburn hair.

After Kari had stopped crying, TK let go and looked into her eyes. "Tomorrow we'll go to Primary Village and look for her. I bet her Digiegg is there waiting for you," TK encouraged. Kari nodded and gave a small smile. Hand in hand they walked back to the camp. By the time they got there, most of the others were asleep. The only ones still awake were Sora, Joe, Izzy and Matt.

"There you two are. We were getting worried about you," Izzy said as they walked up to the dying fire. Joe nodded and put another log on the fire. Sora looked between Kari and TK and smiled. Matt simply stared at them.

"You two want to explain that?" Matt asked, pointing to their hands. Kari looked down and blushed, but she didn't pull her hand away.

"We'll tell you later Matt," TK said tiredly. Matt shook his head and lay down on the ground. Izzy opened his computer and began typing away, as always. Joe continued to stare into the fire, but he couldn't keep his eyes open and he fell asleep sitting up.

"It took you two long enough," Sora finally said after several seconds of silence. TK and Kari shrugged and sat down on the ground next to each other. "Get some sleep, you two need it. It's been a while since you've been able to relax like this." Kari quickly leaned back onto the ground and fell into a deep sleep within minutes.

TK on the other hand, stayed awaked. He looked at the fire, lost in his own thoughts. "Sora, how are we all going to go back to our normal lives after this? Things are so different now," TK murmured.

"TK, our lives aren't normal. We've been different from the rest of the world for nine years. This is normal to me; before the Gate reopened I felt so lost back home. I think things will be easier for us now that the gate is open again," Sora said sweetly. She poked the fire with a long stick and the embers jumped and danced around her and TK.

TK stared at the flames for a few more minutes before lying down on the ground next to Kari. With her on his right and Patamon on his left, TK felt complete, the two living things he cared about most in the world were safe and now he could relax. TK fell asleep listening to Kari's rhythmic breathing. Everything was going to be OK now, he just knew it.


	36. Final

**The final chapter! It took me over two years to write this story and I remember when I finished it I was almost in tears. Of all the stories I've written ( and I've written quite a few) I think this one is my favorite. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have other things I'm working on but right now nothing Digimon realated. So, if any of you have an idea for a Digimon story that you would like to see up here I'd love to write it. You can send it to me in a PM. I'd just need to know what you want it to be about, the characters/pairings and the rating. Please note that I don't write M rated stories or yaoi/yuri. Anything else, from any season I might aded, is fair game. So again, thank you all who have read and reviewed and I can't wait to write for you again. Peace out. **

**~Water Wolf 100**

Chapter 36: Reunited

Kari wasn't sure what time it was when she woke up, all she knew was that it was still very early and no one else was up yet. She swiftly sat up, as silently as she could and looked at each of her sleeping friends. Even in the dim light, she could make out their faces. The only two faces that were missing were Scott and Abby. Bearmon and Liollmon were still sound asleep near the other Digimon but their partners were nowhere in sight.

Next to her, TK and Patamon were sleeping soundly. Their breathing matched and Kari watched as TK's chest rose and fell with each breath. "Kari is something wrong?" a voice from the other side of the fire asked. Kari looked over to see her brother staring at her.

Kari shook her head and smiled. "Everything's fine Tai. I just woke up early that's all. Did I wake you up?" This time it was Tai's turn to shake his head. He stood up and dusted his jeans off.

"Come on, we need to talk about something," Tai said. He walked over to her and extended his hand. Kari happily took it and Tai lifted her to her feet. Together they walked in silence until Tai abruptly stopped. He turned around to face her and then sighed. "Kari, you want to tell me what's going on between you and TK? I can tell something has changed between the two of you. I want to know and I want to know now," Tai said sternly. He looked down at Kari and waited for an answer.

"Well Tai, it's like this; TK said he loves me. And I told him the same thing," Kari mumbled. She watched as his face twisted, fury set in his eyes. "Tai please don't be mad. Over the years TK has been there for me in ways that no else could have ever been. Ever since we were little kids he protected me. If it wasn't for TK, why we wouldn't have gotten out of Pidemon's castle and he was the one who went after me the first time I got sucked into the Dark Ocean," Kari pleaded. Tai's face settled, but his eyes were still furious.

"I don't know how I feel about this Kar," Tai remarked. Kari noticed he used his old nickname for her, which he only used when he was in 'big brother mode'. "I mean, TK's a great kid. He's like a little brother to me but it's just I worry about what might happen if you two become a couple. You have the rest of your life for relationships. You should be focusing on graduating right now," Tai said sternly. Kari stared at him in amazement. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Tai, do you not trust me? I know school is the most important thing. I can't believe you're saying this…" Kari yelled

"Kar, please understand. I'm not saying I don't trust you. Its, its complicated. As your big brother it's my job to protect you and what not. But since you live in America I can't do that as easily. I just don't want to see you get hurt," Tai apologized. His eyes softened and he looked at Kari with a love that only a brother could have for his sister.

"Oh Tai…" Kari murmured. She flung her arms around her brother and practically squeezed the life out of him. "Thank you Tai. I'm so happy that you didn't get to mad."

"Just make sure to tell TK one thing for me. If I find out he even thinks about doing anything to hurt you; I'm going to come after him and make his life a nightmare. I'll make fighting Myotismon seem like taking the trash out; compared to what I'll do to him," Tai hissed through his teeth. Kari stared at him, half annoyed and half terrified. She knew that Tai was serious but at the same time she was irritated that he didn't trust TK.

"I'll be sure to tell him. We better get back now; the others will be waking up soon. What happened to Abby and Scott?"

"No clue. I'm guessing they went somewhere to talk and stuff; since they haven't seen each other in seven years. So are you ready for today?"

"I can't lie; I'm a little nervous. What if she isn't there?"

"She'll be there, she has to be." Tai and Kari had reached the campsite where the others were all still sound asleep. The sun was getting higher in the sky and slowly some of the others began to wake up. Sora was the first to sit up; she looked over at Tai and Kari and gave a small smile. Izzy woke up next and the first thing he did was open up his laptop. The Digimon were starting to awaken too, they all sat up and stretched.

Davis and TK were still sleeping, as was Mimi. None of them were major morning people so the others knew that getting them up would be a long task. Kari walked over to TK and began poking him repeatedly. TK groaned and rolled over, away from Kari. Tai wasn't having much luck trying to get Mimi up either. She just smacked him in the face, mumbled something about a snooze button and went back to sleep.

Davis was snoring so loudly, Kari was amazed that TK and Mimi were able to sleep through it. Then Kari had an idea. "Cover your ears guys," she said a wicked smile on her face. Kari lifted her old whistle to her lips, took a big breath and blew into it as loudly as she could. The shrill sound echoed all through the forest, causing many small Digimon to wake up in alarm.

It had the same effect on the Digidestined. TK bolted up and looked around in terror, as did Mimi. Only Davis still slept, on top of that he was still snoring. "How did that not work?" Sora wondered.

"Davis can sleep through anything," Veemon replied, "Except for one thing, someone mentioning food.

"Davis, there are chocolate chip pancakes!" Yolei yelled at the top of her lungs. Davis snapped his eyes open and shot up from the ground. He looked around hungrily but his face slowly fell.

"Man, where's the food?" he asked sadly.

"You can get some when after we get to Primary Village. Or you can just wait until we go home," Joe told him. Davis grumbled but got up anyway.

"What was that racket?" Scott asked coming up behind them. He and Abby were standing there, rubbing their ears in pain.

"It's just a little wake up call, nothing to out of the ordinary for us," Kari replied hanging the whistle back around her neck. Abby and Scott stared in wonder but shrugged it off.

"Well, now that we're all present and accounted for, let's get going!" Matt said calmly. One by one they walked away from the campsite in almost complete silence. After ten minutes without talking, they began to have small conversations among each other. Mostly about what they'll do when they get back to the real world.

"Sora, will I get to see you more now that the gate is open?" Biomon asked. She looked up at her partner hopefully.

"Of course Biomon. We'll see each other as much as possible. It may not be every day but I'll come and see you every chance I get," Sora said sweetly.

"The same goes for you and me Tentomon," Izzy said to his friend.

"Hey guys look! It's Primary Village!" Cody yelled suddenly. Everyone looked ahead to see brightly colored blocks and balloons rising up over the trees.

"Then why are we still over here?" Hawkmon asked. The Digidestined all looked at each other and broke into a run. Davis and TK made it to the village entrance first and stood waiting for the others to catch up.

Kari reached the gate next, followed by Tai and Matt. Soon all of the Digidestined were standing in front of the gate to Primary Village. "Well this is it. You ready Kari?" Tai asked looking at his sister. Kari nodded and walked into Primary Village. They made their way through all the buildings, walking past many baby Digimon but Kari didn't stop until she was standing at the top of the hill that over looked the egg hatching grounds.

"What are all of those?" Scott asked as he marveled at the sight before him. Hundreds of Digieggs sat on the soft ground. Farther back there were cradles all with baby Digimon inside of them. "They look like eggs."

"That's because they are Scott. Digimon hatch from eggs. Did you think we just fall out of the sky?" Liollmon asked. For a few moments they all stood at the top of the hill looking at the Digieggs.

"Well, we won't find Gatomon standing here. Let's go down and take a look around," Gabumon said. Kari didn't need to be told twice. She ran down the hill and stood before the multitude of eggs before her.

"How will you know which one Gatomon is?" Susan asked coming up behind her. Kari turned to her friend and put her hand on her heart.

"I'll just know. It's hard to explain but it's like a special bond between Digimon and human. Their hearts are connected so strongly that nothing will ever break them apart," Kari walked into the sea of Digieggs and started looking at each one. The others watched with interest and followed her. Some of them had split off from the group and were looking at other things in the village and Patamon had gone off to see Electmon.

Kari continued to look at each egg, some of them she stopped to touch but she never gave much attention to any particular egg. After fifteen minutes of searching, Kari was feeling discouraged. "Kari…" a soft voice whispered. "Kari I'm here."

"Gatomon?" Kari asked whipping her head around. She knew that voice anywhere. It was coming from one of the eggs close by. Kari ran over to where she heard the voice and stopped in front of an egg. It was a beautiful pink egg with several large darker pink circles on it. "Gatomon?" Kari asked. She knelt on the ground and touched the egg. There was a bright flash of light and when it faded, instead of an egg there was a cradle with a tiny white fluff ball in it. "YukimiBotamon!" Kari screamed. She picked up the little puff ball and hugged her tightly.

"Kari, you found her!" TK yelled coming up next to Kari. Soon all of the Digidestined were gathered around Kari and the Baby Digimon. Kari didn't pay any attention to her friends around her, at that moment the only thing that mattered was the tiny Digimon in her arms.

"Oh YukimiBotamon, I've missed you so much," Kari sobbed. She nuzzled her head against Kari's and shut her eyes. Kari finally stood up, still holding her Digimon and smiled. "Now everything is the way it should be. We all ended this battle safely and I think it's time to go back home. There's one person I have to apologize to."

"Are we really going home? It feels like we've been gone forever. How long have we been gone?" Susan asked.

"About 5 days. I bet our parents are in a panic right now, so we should go home soon. Before they think we'll never come home again," Ken said.

"Let's go then. I saw a TV near the gate to the village that we can use. So I guess this is goodbye for now you guys. Let's meet up here this weekend for a picnic. The new kids need to experience some fun in the Digital World," Mimi said excitedly.

"So that's it? We're leaving? What about the Digimon? They're coming with us right?" Scott asked rapidly. Tai stood in front of the younger boy and put his hand on his head.

"Don't worry Scott. They're coming back with us, for now at least. As long as the gate is open we can come here as much as we want.

"That's right. And since we all live so far apart from each other we can come and see each other as much as we want as well. You new kids will soon learn about the good things the Digital World has to offer," TK added. "Patamon, we're leaving. Come on pal!" he called. Patamon flew over the hill and landed on TK's head.

"Let's go. I want to go back and eat some of your human food," Patamon chirped. The Digidestined all ran up the hill to the TV and stopped and looked at each other.

"Well this is it. We'll have to say good-bye for now I suppose," Joe said sadly. "Keep in touch guys, OK. We'll see you around." Joe held up his Digivice and he and Gomomon vanished into the TV. Mimi gave a quick hug to each of her friends and then followed Joe through the TV. One by one all of the Digidestined went back to their homes. Soon only Kari, TK, Izzy, Scott, Abby and Susan remained.

"It's our turn. You guys ready to go home?" Izzy asked holding up his Digivice. The others nodded and held out their Digivices to the TV.

There was a flash of light and they were gone from the Digital World. With a crash, the group of humans and Digimon landed in a help on the floor. "Are we back?" Scott asked weakly. They untangled themselves and looked around. They were back in Izzy's dorm room and luckily his roommate wasn't there.

"Where are we?" Abby asked. She looked around the room, almost confused by all the stuff she was seeing.

"My dorm room, University of Southern California. Come on; let's get you guys back home. I'm sure your parents want to see you guys," Izzy said. He opened the door to his room and ushered them all outside. "And Tentomon, you need to stay out of sight, so do you Liollmon. We don't want to scare anyone on campus."

"I forgot what the real world looked like. It's been so long since I've been here," Abby said in wonder. She looked right and left at every single thing they passed until they reached the student parking lot.

"Get in everyone. We have a two hour drive ahead of us," Izzy said as he ushered them into his beat up Civic. "OK I normally don't do this but four of you are going to have to squeeze into the back seat. Tentomon, Liollmon, Bearmon, I think you three will have to ride in the trunk. There's no room for you in the front of the car." He pulled open the door to the trunk and the three Digimon piled inside.

It was a tight squeeze but they were all able to fit inside the car. Izzy drove, Abby sat next to him in the front seat and TK, Kari, Scott and Susan forced themselves into the backseat. Kari held YukimiBotamon, Patamon sat on TK's head and Lunamon was able to fit in on the floor by Susan's feet.

"We're all set back here Izzy," Kari called when they were finally settled. "You can go whenever you're ready." Izzy gave her a thumbs-up, started his engine and backed out of the parking spot. He got on the highway and threw it into cruise and concentrated on finding the right exit to head east.

Abby spent the entire time staring out the window, amazed by everything to see around her. TK, Kari, Susan, and Scott talked for a while but soon fell asleep. Izzy and Abby started talking about the scenery around them and whatever popped into their minds. In the back, the Digimon were practically silent.

"Guys wake up! We're here," Izzy called when he found the exit for Bear Mountain Lake. Slowly the others woke up and rubbed their eyes. "All right, who am I dropping off first?"

"I live the closest. When you get off the ramp take a left," Susan instructed. Izzy did as she told and the others looked around at the familiar sights of their home. "OK, now make a right at this stop light." Izzy followed Susan's instructions until she led him to a small white house in a quiet neighborhood.

"Is this where you live Susan?" Lunamon asked climbing on her lap.

"This is it. Well, time to go break the news to my parents that I've actually been in another world fighting the forces of darkness. I can't thank you guys enough for everything; this has been the experience of a lifetime. I'll see you guys around, bye!" Susan climbed out of the car and walked with Lunamon up to her front door. Everyone watched as she knocked on the door and a woman with blond hair opened it up. As soon as she saw Susan she burst into tears and hugged her tightly.

"I guess it's time for us to go," Izzy sighed. He pulled out of the driveway and turned back onto the main street. Scott then directed him to his mom's house.

As he pulled into the driveway Abby whispered, "I don't think I can do this."

"Aw come on Abbs, you've fought giant evil Digimon. How bad can seeing your parents that you haven't seen in seven years be any harder?" Bearmon asked from the trunk.

"He's right. Come one Abby, let's go home," Scott said as he opened the door. "I'll see you around Kari. TK, dude, it was great getting to fight alongside you," Scott waved from outside the car. He opened the trunk and let Bearmon and Liollmon climb out. Abby got out of the front seat and slowly walked over to Scott. Together they walked up the front path and knocked on the door. A few moments later a man opened the door and Scott seemed surprised to see him. Soon a woman with red hair ran outside and threw her arms around Scott.

"That must be Scott's mom," Izzy figured. Then she looked at Abby and gently touched her face, as if to see if she was real or not. Then she wrapped her arms around her. The man joined in on the hug and Scott smiled happily and waved to his friends. The woman put her arms around both of her children and all of them walked inside, including Bearmon and Liollmon.

"Well that was nice. I just love happy endings," Tentomon cried from the trunk. Izzy pulled out of the driveway and headed towards Kari's house.

"What about you TK? I can't exactly drive to Japan," Izzy commented.

"Don't worry about it Izzy, something tells me my mom will be waiting at Kari's house." TK looked over at Kari and smiled. "Things are finally getting back to normal."

"TK, you know things are never normal among us. We're Digidestined. But I think things will be better, just not normal," Kari said with a laugh. Izzy continued to drive through Bear Mountain Lake until he reached the Kamyia house. It was a cute little one story house. It had a white picket fence around it and several tall trees stood waiting for the weather to get warmer.

Izzy pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. "Well, there you guys go. I'll be seeing you two soon. Tentomon, do you want to come sit up front now?" Tentomon scrambled to the front seat as TK and Kari climbed out.

TK and Kari stood there and waved as Izzy pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the main street. "This is it. You ready?" Kari asked. TK nodded and gave Kari's hand a squeeze.

"It's you and me, I'm ready for anything," TK replied sweetly. Together they walked up to Kari's front door and Kari rang the bell. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal Kari's father standing there.

"Kari? TK? You're home!" he exclaimed. Mr. Kamyia threw his arms around his daughter and squeezed her tightly. "Yuuko, Nancy, come here! The kids are home!" There was a sound of chairs scraping against the floor and seconds later two hysterical women appeared in the door.

"TK!" Ms. Takashi cried throwing her arms around her son. TK returned the hug and Ms. Takashi cried and cried. Mrs. Kamiya stood in front of her daughter, almost unsure of what to do.

"Mom…"Kari cried. She ran to her mom and hugged her tightly. "Mom, I'm so sorry. All those things I said before I left; I'm just so sorry," Kari sobbed. Mrs. Kamiya ran her hand through Kari's hair and cried.

"No Kari, I'm sorry. I-I didn't treat you as an adult. You knew what you were doing and I didn't respect that. I love you so much sweetheart. I thought I lost you," Mrs. Kamiya cried. She let go of her daughter and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Ms. Takashi was still crying, but had finally let go of TK.

"Mom, I don't think you've ever been properly introduced to my other best friend. You know TK, but you don't know YukimiBotamon. Mom, Dad, this is YukimiBotamon, my Digimon. She used to be Gatomon, you remember her don't you?" Kari said. She held up YukimiBotamon so her parents could see her. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya stared at the little white fluff ball Kari was holding. Even Ms. Takashi seemed interested.

"And Mom, you remember Patamon," TK said pointing to Patamon sitting on the ground next to him.

"Hi Ms. Takashi, it's great to see you again. It's been quite a long time," Patamon said happily. Ms. Takashi stared at the talking guinea pig in front of her.

"There's a lot to tell you all," Kari said, "Why don't we all go inside and tell you the most amazing story you'll ever hear. The time for secrets is finally over."

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Come on kids, are you hungry? I have some liver sticks cooking in the over right now. As they walked inside, the entire house began to smell like smoke. Mrs. Kamiya yelped and ran into the kitchen, where the liver sticks were burning.

"How about we call in for a pizza?" Mr. Kamiya asked. He went to go find a phone book and Ms. Takashi went to go help Mrs. Kamiya put out the flaming liver sticks. TK and Kari stood in the entry way, laughing at the scene before them.

"I told you TK, our lives aren't normal at all," Kari said between fits of laughter. She set YukimiBotamon down and held her sides in laughter. TK then came over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"No they aren't. But I don't my life to be any other way, as long as you're in my life then it's perfect," TK whispered. He leaned towards Kari and kissed her. Kari lost herself in TK's arms, and even with the panic around her, everything felt to perfect to her as well. With TK by her side, everything was complete.


End file.
